Adaptation
by DarkSuperTails
Summary: After all, Naruto, you have a power that nobody else has. The power to change the hearts of everyone you meet. But I wonder, can you change the hearts of demons, too?
1. Meeting with the Beast, the Proposition

**This is a story I've been working on since early 2011, but never got around to finishing yet. It's a long haul, and will end up being my longest piece yet, but for now I'm finally putting some chapters on the internet where I haven't before, and will continue to add them one by one periodically, as I once again work on the story. Enjoy.**

**Note: This story takes place at the tail-end of the first series and is not in the Shippuden timeline, thusly. This is an alternative 'what if' to Naruto leaving with Jiraiya to go train for three years. This is why Kyuubi is referred to as Kyuubi, not Kurama, as was later revealed in late Shippuden.** **Just mentioning this for clarification.**

**Everything (C) to Kishimoto and not me  
**

The stench of still water was stale and putrid, and engulfed the twisting sewer hallways so completely that it was as if the air itself was heavy. A dim orange light sank in from a hole in the ceiling, and lit up a portion of the passage, flooded as it was with half a foot of water. And to accompany this brooding atmosphere was nothing but the gentle sound of water dripping from somewhere unseen. But soon, the sound of splashes with falling footsteps drowned out that noise.

Through the gloomy and poorly lit hallway walked two figures. One was of average height, and had a generously shaped figure; the other was larger, taller and bulkier. Moving without a hint of fear or nervousness in their strides, they took a turn down a side passage, and from the end of it, sprang a new sound. Distant as it was, it was of a menacing growl, as if from a cornered beast about to strike. It reverberated off the walls, and got louder and louder with every advance the two figures took. But nothing deterred them; they pressed on, and made their way to the very heart of the terrible sound.

Rather suddenly, the narrow hallway opened up into a massive square chamber. It bore a ceiling so tall that it was impossible to see with the naked eye, and at the opposing end of the room sat a monstrous locked gate. The two figures stopped and held their ground in the center of the massive area; all was still and silent. The air here was even heavier with tension than the outer hallways, but not one flinch, shake or sign of unrest came from the two.

No, not from them.

As if waiting for something to happen, the silhouetted pair stood; one with crossed arms, and the other with a hand resting impatiently on their hip. Both stared into the void of darkness that lay just beyond the locked gate, and it was from here, in this black hole, that two gargantuan, menacing blood-red eyes sprung open. They darted down at the two trespassers, and it was only a few seconds later that a horrible toothy grin accompanied the gaze. Every tooth rose numerous times taller than any man, except for the canines. Pointed like war javelins, they sat at the forefront of the behemoth's mouth, and could easily crush anything unfortunate enough to come within their reach.

A moment of brief silence, and then a deep and awful voice came from inside the gate. Every word spoken caused a small ripple in the water that flooded the room.

**"Well, look at this. My chamber is graced by the presence of not one, but two of the Legendary Sannin. How I am honored."**

As the ripples from the floor reflected what little light there was, the two figures were finally given shape and form. A man with long snow-white hair and a massive scroll dangling from his back stood on the right. Eyes narrowed and serious, expression flat, he met the beast's nightmarish face with a look of both understanding and contempt.

The figure on the left was a women; she had striking blonde hair, a long green coat that bore a red symbol on its back, and an expression even more serious than the man. She was the first to walk forward, closer still to the gate. With a flip of her twin pig tails, she forced a smile up at the monster behind the bars.

"Kyuubi. Been a long time," She said, in a sarcastic welcoming tone. "Very homey place you have in here, though I can't say much for the interior decorating."

The beast let out a low growling laugh, shaking the chamber slightly as it readjusted its position from where it lay inside the confines of its prison.

**"It has been an even longer time since a mortal has addressed me by that name," **It replied. **"And so sorry to hear it, but sadly, I had no choice in my living arrangements. We all know who to thank for that, Tsunade."**

"Unfortunately," the white-haired man intervened. "Or perhaps in this instance for you, fortunately, we didn't come in here to look at your ugly face for no good reason."

The Toad Sage, otherwise known as Jiraiya, smiled deviously as he went on. He too stepped closer to the gate and accompanied the Fifth and current Hokage by her side. Subtly and in the briefest of moments, their eyes met, and Jiraiya only then went on.

"I guess you could put what we're going to offer you, as a proposition."

Kyuubi, known to every person in the Land of Fire as the infamous Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit, changed his gaze from one sannin to the other. His smile diminished, but his interest was forever peaking. His entire body now aglow with his burning red chakra, the sheer size of his true proportions was now obvious. Still, neither Jiraiya nor Tsunade looked the least bit influenced or phased. Flaring himself like a peacock wasn't going to impress them, of all people.

**"Go on."** The fox demon said, his nine appendages twisting and writhing slowly at the back of the cage.

Tsunade closed her eyes gave a sigh, working over how she was to word this. Trying to reason with a demon was bad enough, but the most intelligent of all the tailed beasts could very well be harder still. That said, being two of the most renowned ninja in history definitely had its perks. The fox was already willing to listen to them. That wasn't common in the slightest. Anyone else, and the demon wouldn't have given them a second glance.

"I'll get right to the chase," She declared, her voice a bit more projective and serious than before. "Naruto has been thus far trained by Kakashi Hatake, and to a more minor extent by Jiraiya. But now, the village is starting to see very bad signs of possible war with some of our surrounding lands, and thusly, the majority of the Leaf Villages' shinobi no longer have the luxury to laze about in the village and go on mainstream missions. Even Jiraiya and I are up to our necks in work. The fact is that Naruto's development at this point in time is halted, and there's absolutely no one that can risk taking the time to train him when the Village needs them in the field for in case there is an attempted invasion."

Kyuubi listened in patient silence, non-blinking and watching with rapt attention as the Hokage continued. His two massive front hands lay out in front of him, and before long he laid his chin on them, almost reminiscent of a dog.

_A dog the size of two large mountains, with a mouth that could crush a mountain peak in a single bite._

"Therefore, not long ago, Jiraiya came to me with a solution that I at first absolutely refused to try. But our options are slim, and we can't afford to be picky. Additionally, with the Akatsuki having been restless for months now, we are also at risk of them coming after Naruto again. He needs to become stronger, and he needs someone to keep his neck out of trouble, or he won't stand a chance once they inevitably make their move." Tsunade continued. The pair of demonic eyes stayed still and intent, as the fox demon easily began to piece together where this was going.

**"…So, let me see. You're saying you want _me, _the demon who's had enough of this idiotic boy to last ten thousand lifetimes over, to try and get the brat to become an Akatsuki slayer?" **The beast surmised with a mocking tone in its voice. **"You truly _are_ desperate aren't you? But I'll humor you. Even if I was able to get him powerful enough to keep himself from getting killed, what could I possibly gain from this plan?"**

Tsunade rested her voice. She looked to Jiraiya to take it from there.

"Well to be fair, it should already be in your best interest to make sure Naruto stays alive." Jiraiya countered. His eyelids were drooped towards the shallow, water-logged floor. "If he dies, you go right along with him. But aside from that, I'm pretty sure you could find a few fringe benefits in this plan as well, if you go along with it."

**"Fringe benefits?" **The fox echoed. With an ego of limitless proportions, a part of the nine-tails could scarcely stand the fact that two humans were actually catching its attention with something.** "What could mortals possibly have that I would desire besides freedom from this kid's infernal abdomen? You don't honestly expect me to believe you're going to release me. Your 'proposition' seems to have a few holes in it thus far, 'legendary ninja'."**

Jiraiya's eyes turned back up and met with the monster's once more.

"On the contrary," he began. "We have the next best thing." His hand moving in a flash, a long crimson scroll unrolled rapidly, until it reached its end only mere inches above the wet floor and jumped back up from the lash-back. Holding it out for the fox to see, the old man tapped his forefinger against the top of it.

"This can be accomplished through a special jutsu I've been able to develop." The old Toad Sage explained, smiling proudly and smirking accordingly. "It's called Ninja Art: Reverse Sealing Manifestation, and without spoiling anything too much, let's just say that while you'll still be firmly sealed up in here, it'll give you a chance to see what it's like to be on the outside again as well. That's where you'll train Naruto. Under a few special precautions we'll be taking, of course."

Kyuubi's blood-red eyes widened slightly. On the outside? How could he possibly be on the outside, truly, without being completely released? There was a moment of silence as the ancient beast looked down at the two of them carefully, his expression narrowed to read the tiny scroll. After a minute, another rumbling laugh shook the entire room.

**"I must admit I'm curious to see what this alleged jutsu of yours does." **Kyuubi began, once again readjusting his position. **"And also to see if you've done your homework right, and are sure what you're doing won't result in my being able to escape entirely."** He stated, ever present malicious smile on his muzzle.** "Looks like I have nothing to lose, and so very much to possibly gain. So be it, you have yourself a deal on my end. I'll assist the boy until he's no longer a helpless kit. Much as I despise this place, being seized and used by a band of ninja outcasts is hardly any more appealing."**

As soon as the humungous fox had finished its decision, Tsunade once again took the floor. Both hands firmly placed on her hips, she summoned up the most authoritarian voice she could muster.

"Good. As soon as we leave here and Naruto wakes up, Jirayia will be filling him in as well. In another day or two from now, expect the jutsu to be cast for the first time." The Fifth Hokage proclaimed. "And I'd say it's in your best interest to listen out for Jiraiya's conversations with Naruto, because I assure you, there is no room for you to try anything funny and you'll soon hear why." She finished, before abruptly turning on her heel and marching from the gloom-filled chamber. For the briefest of seconds there was nothing but the splashes caused by her footsteps receding from hearing.

"Boy…as impatient as ever." The old sage sighed, rolling up the scroll and making a tiger seal. The scroll vanished in a puff of smoke, and he quickly followed Tsunade's lead out the only opening to the room.

**"One thing."** The demon said calmly after them. The two sannin stopped in their tracks.

**"I'll listen, and if what you say is true, that I'll finally be granted access once again to the outside world in some way, then I'll uphold my end of the bargain. But that said…"**

Jiraiya turned his head ever so slightly, looking back at the beast. Its eyes were full of impatience.

**"One thing you better make sure that boy knows above all else, is that he will not receive any patience from me. Unlike even you, Tsunade, my anger knows no bounds. If that brat willingly arouses it, well then, don't blame me for what may or may not happen to his well-being. He'll live, as he must for me to survive, but that's about all I can promise."**

"…"

"…"

**"If that is all, then leave my sight."**

A burning bright light instantly penetrated the entire room, forcing the eyes of both the Fifth Hokage, and her perverted sage comrade to clench and bare a few tears. The shallow dripping of water became the melodious chirping of birds, the stench of stale sewer water transformed into the wooden smell that accompanied the Lady Hokage's office, and the heavy feeling in the air that had put a weight in their chests had lifted. When Tsunade next opened her eyes, she was once again standing over a shirtless, snoring Naruto lying on her desk. One hand lay over his forehead, the other his seal, just as they had been before they entered.

"Well." Jiraiya said, rubbing the back of his huge head of white hair. "_That_ went well."

"…Jiraiya, this worries me." The Hokage said quietly, both her hands returning to her sides. Kyuubi's final warning rang around the inside of her head like a wrench in an otherwise perfect plan.

"Tsunade, I've already explained this to you." Jiraiya said calmly, turning to her and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "The jutsu only allows a minor, extremely minuscule amount of the beast's will and chakra to be released into the manifestation. He'll barely be the size of a large dog, and certainly won't be stronger than any of our toughest jonin." He explained for, what felt like the twentieth time in the past few days. "It's his sync with Naruto and his knowledge of how Naruto's chakra network works from being stuck in there for thirteen years, which makes him the only one who can do this. Please, trust in my jutsu-"

"That's not it!" The Fifth yelled, smacking his hand away. Jiraiya remained silent, beaming at her and awaiting the list of her doubts. Boy was she predictable.

"…It's not that. I do trust your jutsu. What bothers me more is the fact that…this may not pay off in the time we need it too. Even worse, it may not pay off at all. What happens if even Kyuubi can't prepare him for them in time? Neither you, nor any of us can afford to constantly look after him right now. And we certainly couldn't deal with a war _and_ the Akatsuki at the same time." She said, voice full of blatant irritation and worry. She cupped Naruto's drooling, absently lop-sided head. "And there's no one but Yamato's long-ranged wood clones looking after Naruto when the manifestation is out, and even they can't take on an elite jonin-leveled Kyuubi. He may be jonin level, but that doesn't mean he has a leg up on normal Shinobi. We have to assume he has otherworldly jutsu that humans have never even seen."

"Tsunade…" Was all Jiraiya could manage. She was right. Upon developing the technique, Jiraiya had made a counter-jutsu to completely turn off the manifestation, so that if Kyuubi did decide to betray them, or just got out of hand, he could be compressed. It was a swell idea on paper, but there a problem.

Only himself, Tsunade and Yamato knew the jutsu. On top of that, it was a bit tricky to learn. The wood clone was there to use it if need be, but if Kyuubi caught on to its presence and decided to destroy it before the clone could release the manifestation, it would all be but a matter of time.

"…I need to teach the release to Naruto. That's the only sure-fire way that we can be almost positive." Jiraiya said, walking to one of the large glass windows looking out over the village, and resting his hands on the edge. "But it's a tricky jutsu for someone that young and inexperienced, and thanks to my reconnaissance mission, I've only got one full day before we need to try this out, or not do it at all. I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises."

With a tired sigh, Tsunade hooked her foot around the front of her rollout chair to pull it out, and slumped down into it. Letting the soft cushion take away some of her physical stress away, she rubbed her temple and groaned. Things were going to be incredibly risky, that was sure. But first thing was first, there were missions, papers and other documents she needed to tend to. For the time being, this situation with Kyuubi was out of her hands until tomorrow, and now, she needed to get to work.

"...Well, do the best you can, and good luck. I'm sure you'll need it. Hell, we may all need it." She finalized, ready to leave the subject alone until tomorrow.

"Right."

"Now, Jiraiya." Tsunade said, chuckling a little and poking the loud, snoring pre-teen laying on her things. "Help me get this idiot off my desk. I need to get to work."


	2. WHO'S training me? Naruto's Dismay

As the evening sun began to make its way down towards the horizon, a bright clementine glow filled the sky, and cast both shadow and warm light throughout the Village Hidden in the Leaves. While citizens filled the crowded streets below, ninja shot across rooftops in black blurs, some on their way home, while others set off on late missions. Two ninja in-particular however were on their way to nowhere fast. Walking down the center of the street was a young boy with an orange jumpsuit, a blue headband, and equally blue eyes. His hands were clasped together behind his pin cushion-styled blonde hair, and he was walking with none other than Jiraiya, also known as the Toad Sage and Mountain Sage. To this particular ninja however, he was one thing and one thing only.

"Pervy Sage! Helloooooo!? I was talking to you!"

Naruto Uzumaki was a troublemaking knucklehead with both a temper and dream. He yelled into the ear of an absent-minded Jiraiya, who had been completely drawn in, hook, line and sinker, by a poster of a pretty girl in a new upcoming movie. But after enough yells at point-blank range, Jiraiya's attention all at once snapped back to reality. With an itch of his nose and a wide grin, he brought his palm down on the bright yellow spiky hair bobbing in and out of his peripheral vision.

"Ahahahaa, sorry kid, was _far_ too busy thinking about important things. Yes, very important things. _Hehehe_."

"Oh man look out, you're _thinking_. I better hit the deck; you may just explode from the strain." Naruto drawled sarcastically, closing one eye and looking up towards the sky while the hand gripping his head ruffled his hair.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Jiraiya replied with equal sarcasm, putting pressure on his arm so that the genin's head was forced downwards. "You know if you ever fail at being a ninja, you could probably make a fair living just off some stand-up comedy. Assuming the audience doesn't jump on stage and beat the living daylights out of you for using insulting jokes."

Experienced hawk-like eyes scanned around each and every street corner as the two went by them. Jiraiya knew exactly what he was looking for, and he knew it had to be close by now. Naruto followed along in toe, humming and not really paying attention to anything his master was doing, like he always did. In fact unless the expressions 'new jutsu', 'Orochimaru', 'Sasuke' or 'Akatsuki' were mentioned, there seemed to be very little that Naruto paid attention to about his teacher when they weren't actually training.

Upon finally seeing the right road, the Toad Sage withdrew his hand from his protégé's head, and a serious look about his face was now apparent. Taking a faster pace, he led Naruto further and further away from the populated streets. Naruto followed obediently for a little while longer, but his attention span was hardly something he was known for.

"…Alright Pervy Sage, where exactly is it you're taking me? I thought we'd at _least_ go get some ramen while I have to sit through another one of your lectures…or one of your tales of how awesome you used to be. If those are even _tru_e."

"'Used to be'? Hahaha, kid, I'm _still_ so awesome you can't even measure it with the human vocabulary." Jiraiya responded matter-of-factly, as he took another turn and began to head towards a large apartment building at the end of the street. The instant Naruto saw it, he let his mouth gape a little, and for his hands to fall back down to his sides. He gave Jiraiya a completely unsatisfied look, before pointing at non-other than his very own apartment building.

"You can't be serious! Are we really going to my _house_!?"

"You better 'believe it'!" Jiraiya said winking. "Thing is kid what I need to talk to you about is something that's only for me and you to hear. We need somewhere private like your place where we can take our time."

Naruto gave a small grunt of disapproval, but kept on walking. He looked off to his right, and gazed after all the people down the other streets.

"Ichiraku doesn't normally have that many people this late you know-"

"Kid, Even Teuchi and his daughter can't hear about this. It's top secret. Apart from me, only Tsunade and one of our ANBU friends know about it." The old man interjected. "Your place is the safest bet."

Ascending the outside stairs that curved around and embraced the long building, Jiraiya and Naruto eventually landed on the boy's home doorstep. Jiraiya's moving aside and nodding his head was Naruto's cue to unlock the door, and as soon as they got inside, Naruto closed the door behind them. Tossing his keys to the floor lazily, the young blonde kicked off his sandals and laid down on his couch, facing his teacher. Jiraiya remained standing, and watched him get comfortable. In the meantime, he glanced around the apartment. Truth be told, he had never been in here before.

Empty ramen cups, various amounts of paper, other miscellaneous trash and training scrolls frequented the floor so heavily that in most spaces there appeared to be no floor at all. Raising his eyes to the two adjacent rooms visible from where they were, Jiraiya could see more of the same, but onto the boy's bed as well, and of course, all over the kitchen. The man was not amused.

"Geez, it's a pigsty in here. You know kid, they invented this thing way back in the dark ages called cleaning, ever heard of it? You might wanna look into that." The sage teased, not being able to help himself from chuckling at the boy's obvious reaction.

"Hey, come on! You dragged me here for privacy, not to judge me! Let's get on with it already, you old perv…" The Uzumaki said defensively, unzipping his jacket and throwing it carelessly to the floor, just like his keys. Last to be removed was his headband, which was about the only thing he put down gently on the coffee table.

"Yeah yeah, quite comfy now are you?" The Toad Sage asked, cocking an eyebrow and rolling his eyes at how the boy had gone from full-blown ninja gear, to shorts and a t-shirt in fifteen seconds flat. Naruto grinned and chuckled, laying there hugging a throw pillow.

"I'll take that as a yes then. Anyway, kid, I'm not exactly sure where to start with this, but here goes nothing." He began, sighing and finally deciding that if the kid was gonna take a load off, so was he. He found an open, clean looking spot on the wooden floor and sat down. Crossing his legs and letting his large scroll roll off his back and onto the floor, the renowned sannin rolled his shoulders to relieve tension that sat on his back all day, and then made eye contact with his young student.

"As I'm sure you're at least partly aware Naruto, the village has been dealing with more than just Orochimaru and the Akatsuki these past few months." He began. "About six weeks ago, we started noticing suspicious activity on our borders with several of the other smaller nations. Now at first this was nothing too alarming, but days have turned into weeks, weeks have turned into over a month, and Tsunade and the Black Ops are getting very disturbed by what they're suspecting."

'Orochimaru'. 'The Akatsuki'. Just these two names were more than enough to arouse the serious attention of the blonde boy. He sat upright from his casual laying position and let go of the throw pillow. His eyes now full of alertness, he didn't break eye-contact with Jiraiya while he listened with complete focus.

"I'm not going to get into the details. You're underage for one and wouldn't really get it anyway, and two this isn't really what this is about." The sannin commented. "But the point of that backstory is that every ninja in our village, including me, is busy doing either reconnaissance missions to try and figure out just what is going on, or is stationed by our main border points in camps. Worst case scenario, is that another war breaks out."

There was a pause, as Naruto tried to take in the huge amount of stressful information he had just been hit with. More than once he moved his mouth to try and say something, before scanning the ground below his couch again, reconsidering, and going over his thoughts.

"…Alright, but then, what does that have to do with me?" Naruto asked curiously, now leaning forward and fiddling with his hands.

"Heh, more than you might think." Jiraiya responded. "But before I go on about that, there's a question I want you to answer. And I need you to be honest and serious about this, Naruto."

The underage genin gulped, sky blue eyes fixated on his teacher, trying to analyze what the question might be before it was even asked. He slowly nodded.

Jiraiya's eyes glanced towards the space of clothing on Naruto's shirt, just below the Leaf Village symbol that was emblazoned upon it. Just about where his stomach was, and thus, the seal. Jiraiya wondered if the fox could hear them even right now.

"…Naruto." Jiraiya said after another moment. His eyes reconnected with the boy's once more. "How would you describe your relationship with the Nine-Tailed Fox?"

Naruto's circular blue eyes widened, and his brows furrowed. That wasn't the question he was expecting. It wasn't even on his radar. The…fox? What did he have to do with anything? Was Grandma Tsunade thinking of trying to use its power in the possible war? Whatever the reason, Naruto could easily answer this one. There wasn't much to it. The fox _hated_ him.

"Nothing incredible if that's what you're expecting, Pervy Sage." Naruto breathed. "He hates me. The first time I went inside myself and, you know, met him, he tried to claw at me through the gate and said how much he'd like to eat me. And, I can't say it's been a whole lot different since then."

Naruto caught himself and shook his head.

"Well actually, he at least doesn't talk about how he wants to kill me anymore. Now his thing has been to just tell me how weak I am without him…"

Naruto looked down at the floor, but when he looked back up expecting to see a disappointed look on his teacher's face, he was surprised to find a smile.

"I expected as much. But that's actually a good thing." Jiraiya said, his voice rising with enthusiasm. "Naruto, in short, because of these reconnaissance missions about the possible war conflict, Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki who I've been tailing for years now, I can't train you for a while to come, and neither can Kakashi or anyone else experienced in our village."

Naruto blinked a few times, and for once didn't say anything. Where in the _hell_ was this going? Jiraiya stood up and pulled out a small crimson scroll hidden inside his clothes, and let it flop open onto the floor. As Naruto looked over it, Jiraiya cleared his throat.

"Naruto, earlier this evening I put you under a sleep hypnosis jutsu, under the pretense of checking how your internal development was going by looking inside you for myself. Remember?"

"Yeah…?"

"While that wasn't a _complete_ lie, it wasn't what I was actually doing." The old man nodded towards Naruto's stomach. "I, as well as the Fifth Hokage went deep into your psyche, and confronted the Nine-Tailed Fox."

"…! W-Wait, what for?" Was the first question that came to the boy's mind, but it certainly wasn't the only one. Naruto clenched his teeth, his mind racing as he watched the man sit back down and begin to look over the scroll's jutsu contents himself.

"This scroll contains a recently developed jutsu I created just for you." The man explained, while running a finger along the main part of the scroll. A large circular pattern intertwined with other designs were all orbiting a central character for 'Reverse'. "Its name is Ninja Art: Reverse Sealing Manifestation. What this jutsu does is reach deep into your body, into your mind, and grips a very minute part of the Nine-Tailed Fox's spirit. It brings it out into the mortal realm, our realm, and brings it back into its true form."

The room stayed as quiet as a graveyard once the Toad Sage had made his response. Jiraiya knew he had to get the entire thing out quick with this kid while he was still a bit stunned; otherwise a bombardment of questions or a general explosion of arguments would hit him before he could finish.

"Tsunade and I reached an agreement with the demon. In exchange for training you to become stronger, he gets a chance to once again be in the outside world. Granted he's a minor fraction of his normal size and has a small amount of his normal chakra, but nonetheless part of his body and consciousness will be outside yours."

"…_Are you absolutely insane!?_" Naruto yelled. Jiraiya closed his eyes and sighed. _Here we go._

"You can't do that! He's _tricking_ you, can't you see that!? He won't train me; he'll destroy everything he can get his claws on! It's what he wanted to do thirteen years ago before the Fourth Hokage saved the village from him! And what about the seal, something like that will just loosen it, he'll get out again and-"

"Let the grownups _finish_ before you bark on about things you _don't_ understand!" Jiraiya roared.

Instantaneous silence followed. But just because his mouth wasn't moving, didn't mean Naruto was calm. His eyes were shaking, and he was biting his lip as it trembled. Truth be told, that monster was one of the few things on this earth that terrified even him. He could keep his cool in front of it when it was behind an impenetrable gate, but this was quickly changing that safety net into a sea of uncertainty.

"Just stay calm, Naruto. I know how you must feel." Jiraiya said, his voice much more soothing and understanding. "I've dropped tons of new and stressful information in front of you, and you're a bit frightened of it coming all at once. I understand that. I promise that if you let me finish, I'll answer all your questions, and-"

"So how does this jutsu work, then? If you're sure the plan'll work then that's good enough for me, Pervy Sage."

"…?"

His sapphire eyes locked away from Jiraiya's, Naruto sat back into the couch again, still and with his arms crossed over his chest. On his face, an expression caught between distress and confidence. Jiraiya sighed, sympathy for the boy starting to shine through.

_"He's trying to act brave and put it off as something he can handle with no problem. But this terrifies him, and there's no hiding it from other people this time. Poor kid."_ The sannin thought to himself.

"I'm sorry Naruto." Jiraiya said, his voice quiet and patient. "You must believe me, Tsunade and I would never even think of striking a deal with the fox unless we had no other alternative, like how we are now."

"I said I'm fine, okay? Now, tell me how this is all gonna work already." Naruto snapped back quickly, his fingers clenching into his shoulders more tightly.

Heh. There was just no cracking this kid. Even when he's terrified he won't give in. Alright then, Jiraiya decided, no sense in pursuing a comforting moment if he doesn't want it.

"You sit still, I do the hand signs, and then I pull the part of his spirit out that we want. Like I said, he'll be a fraction of his size and strength, and in addition, there's a jutsu for canceling the manifestation at any time." Jiraiya summarized, getting up and sitting down next to the boy on the couch. He turned to Naruto and put a hand on his head. Though Naruto didn't make a fuss about it, he did tense a bit.

"Now, our ANBU friend I mentioned knows this jutsu. He'll be on missions like the rest of us, but he has special clones that'll be surveying you two for a while, until it's either clear that Kyuubi doesn't intend to betray us, or until you manage to learn the jutsu as well."

"And then I could make his manifestation vanish as well whenever I wanted?"

"Yup."

"Alright, well, teach me it already so we can get this over with!" The blonde said, smiling and chuckling at the thought of making the fox poof in a single hand sign. Jiraiya laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Man you're a pain in my neck. You keep me on my toes if nothing else, kid. One minute you're yelling at me, then you look like you're gonna fall apart, and now you _want_ me to bring him out. What am I gonna do with you, huh?"

It was just then that the sannin's attention was brought to a small space below Naruto's window. The glaze of the sunlight that had been bathing the floorboards since they had walked inside was now gone. The sky was now purple. Damnit, out of time after all.

"Well, Naruto," he said, standing up and grabbing the string of his large scroll while rolling up the smaller one and hiding it in his clothes. "Time for me to go. I promise you I'll teach you that jutsu, but I'm afraid you're just gonna have to deal without it for a while. Yamato's an elite jonin, so for the time being, you can confide in him to take care of the manifestation if things get out of hand."

Not bothering to use the closed door, the Sage jumped into the open window and gripped the frame to hold himself steady, while he looked back at open room. Naruto had stood up.

"Tomorrow at noon, meet Tsunade and I in her office. That's when we activate the jutsu. Heh, and don't be late. If Tsunade finds you slurping ramen at that time, she'll pound you into the dirt."

"Yeah whatever Pervy Sage, I'll be there." The Uzumaki yawned, stretching his arms up high into the air, his t-shirt riding up a little and revealing a flat stomach. "Now get outta here, listening to you for that long has started to put me to sleep."

"Ha, yeah right. Night, kid."

A flash, and the sannin was gone, leaving the wooden frame of the window to let the full twilight of the darkening day into the room. Naruto's sky blue eyes stared at the now empty, vacant space, his mind beginning to work overtime, considering his fate. It gave him a headache.

As tired a pre-teen as he was, Naruto slumped his way into his bedroom, shut the door behind him, and stood in front of the mirror on his dresser. Watching his reflection, he lazily grabbed a hold of the folds of his shirt and pulled them up over his head, until the black seal of the Nine-Tailed Fox was clearly visible, orbiting around his navel. His eyes became glued to it as his train of thought sunk deeper and deeper into what tomorrow would be like. Palm flattening itself, he rubbed along the mark.

"…Looks like things are going to get pretty intense around here." He muttered to himself, letting his shirt fall onto a pile of other clothes next to his dresser, dropped from other previous nights. He should probably be cleaning those soon, But such things were of least concern right now. Tomorrow he would be facing his true inner demon face to face, in the real world. Not in his mind, and not while it was behind bars; in the flesh, fur and claws.


	3. Evil lurks in the light of the moon

As night falls and extinguishes the sun, demons, devils and monsters of all shapes and sizes emerge from hiding. They terrorize man by keeping him awake at night with unsure sounds and movements seen only in the corner of your eye. They plague his mind, as well as the shadows that blanket the world while the sun hides. No matter how brave they are, there's always darkness and fear at the core of every man's heart.

Far away from the safety and peacefulness of the Leaf Village, was an extensively lush forest; like most, it helped cover most of the Land of Fire and far into some of the surrounding lands as well. Borders to lands that were peaceful with the village weren't covered and patrolled by the Leaf's Black Ops and other ninja nearly as efficiently during this time of uncertainty when expecting a war, and it was here, in these unguarded places, where scum and filth of the worst varieties gathered. Like unwanted vermin, they show up at any small weakness; a crack in the wall or a loose floorboard. It was in this forest that something was at unrest.

In the near darkness created by the cover of the over standing trees, almost nothing was truly visible. Outlines were the only true visibility with so much brush blanketing the landscape. Even to a small hare, whose eyesight in the dark was flawless, sense of hearing was still the main line of defense here. The slightest movement of a bush, the snapping of a twig, or the crinkling of leaves as movement passed through them, and the rabbit would take off best it could. Still, there was no way to telling where the thing would be-

_There!_

A bush rustled violently. Without hesitation, the hare bounded through the brush, using it as cover as it tried to escape. The loud, obvious crackling of leaves behind it meant that the thing was closing in, fast. The frightened and helpless animal zig-zagged its pattern, as the noise of the thing grew closer and closer, advancing and flying through the brush like it was not even there. It was soon so close that a shadow of it appeared above the hare, while the animal burst, full-speed, towards its burrow. For safety.

Then, the sickening sound of metal slicing into the hard earth at high-speed shook the forest, and all kinds of birds and animals nearby let out an outcry, before everything became still.

Embedded into the dirt just above the burrow's entrance was a massive, three-bladed scythe. Blazing red, it had a long cloth-wrapped handle, and a large cable running from its very end; it dragged along the ground, and trailed off to somewhere in the far bushes. It was from here that something even louder than the scythe piercing the ground rang out. This time, absolutely every animal within a half-mile radius ran for it.

"**_FUCK! _**Goddamnit, I missed! Kakuzu, you _lame_-ass, this is _your_ fault!_"_

Out from the thick cover of the brush walked two men. Both were of the about the same height and size, and past that, there were even more similarities. They wore identical outfits; large black cloaks with red clouds scattered across them, as well as a similar style of pants and sandals. It was in the faces of these men where the true differences actually lay. The man who had shouted had crazy, riled-up eyes and a facial expression to match. His hair was short, combed back and a very light purple color. Around his neck hung a headband with several slanted lines, and one big scratch mark through all of them.

The second man's headband was tied across his forehead like the majority of shinobi, and its symbol was that of a large arrow pointing downwards. Like the first man, a scratch mark was carved through it horizontally. A large white head piece covered his head, while a dark blue mask covered his entire face. The only things that were visible were his eyes; red with lime green pupils. He gave off the appearance of some kind of deformed creature hiding behind clothing.

"Your adverse vocabulary never ceases to amaze me, Hidan." The second man stated, sarcasm obvious in his low voice. Casually walking in the same direction the rabbit had fled, he wrenched the huge scythe from the ground as if it were nothing but a small kunai knife, and threw it backwards. "By the way, _you're_ the one trying to get target practice done on something as small and agile as a hare in the dead of night. Not me."

Hidan scoffed loudly, cocking his head to the side while he grabbed the scythe from mid-air, and shouldered it with no effort. Teeth clenching and a voice that was overly exaggerated, he caught up to his partner and placed the scythe once again in his back holster.

"Ah go _blow it_, Kakuzu." He passed off. "Where are we going anyway? We've still got that Two-Tailed cat Jinchuriki to capture at some point. If we're not after any of your targets, shouldn't we be on our way to try and _find it_ by now?"

"No." Kakuzu replied, facing ahead and not bothering to turn to his partner. "The Two-Tails isn't anywhere near here at the moment. So if you want your answer, look around you. What is it that you notice?"

Hidan blinked uncertainly, and began to sharply look around in a three-hundred and sixty-degree turn. Seeing and hearing nothing but the chirping of crickets and the blank outline of trees, he glared back and spread his arms out wide.

"Nothing. There's absolutely nothing. That's my point, why are we hiking out here and wasting time!?"

A large tree had long since grown old, fallen and decayed in the middle of the trail the two followed. As wide as two men and covered with moss, it completely blocked the other side from view. But in an instant, the trunk was splintered to pieces just before the two men reached it. Amidst the splinters of flying wood and dust, Kakuzu retracted his hand back into his cloak.

"It's what you're not seeing that is the point Hidan." Kakuzu explained. "You just screamed at the top of your lungs, twice, after having created a shockwave from your scythe that must have been audible for a mile or so in all directions."

"And? So what?" Hidan asked. "Didn't you hear the animals all freak out and get the hell outta dodge? So what if my scythe-"

Kakuzu's form shifted in the blink of an eye, and before Hidan had even realized it, he was grabbed by one of the open parts of his cloak. With such power in a single hand, Kakuzu easily lifted the man clear off the ground.

"There are no ninja, Hidan. _Ninja._ The Leaf Village is rumored to be on the verge of war with several other countries, yet there isn't a sign of a single ninja around, ANBU or not. And that's after plenty of chances to come running after hearing you screw around. Which means…" he trailed off, and dropped Hidan to his feet. Seemingly uninfluenced by the action, Hidan brushed off his cloak, cracked his neck, and chuckled sinisterly. His hand reached behind him and gripped a hold of his monstrous weapon, as if he was eager to whip it out again at a moment's notice.

"…Which means that we're able to move along freely as we please, at least in this part of the woods?"

"Correct." Kakuzu concluded, turning around again and proceeding to step over roots and rocks that covered the ground.

"And let me guess," Hidan continued, eyes rolled. "We're off to another one of your bogus money points again, right?"

"Two in a row; keep going Hidan, you may very well impress me yet." Kakuzu replied. "We're close, which is one of the prime reasons we've walked this far and not been moving faster. As soon as we're finished, then and only then will we start to track the Two-Tails."

Satisfied with everything now explained, Hidan let loose a wild grin. Eyes flared, his hand gripped his scythe handle a bit tighter. Without warning, a resounding slicing sound echoed throughout the area. When the cloaked man let the grip on his scythe lax up, every tree near the pair came to a crashing thud to the forest floor, once and for all sending every animal within earshot scattering. Hidan fell into a maniacal fit of laughter.

"AHAHAHAHAAA! That's better. Plants are nothing compared to what spills blood, but it'll satisfy me till we come across something I can _really_ dig into!"

"Don't overdo it. There may not be ninja around now, but if you keep carelessly making a racket that could easily change." Kakuzu chided, not at all fazed by the fact that the equivalent of several tons of wood had just struck down and shook the earth all around him.

"Pfft, once again…" Hidan muttered. "Blow it, Kakuzu. The more to come and die, the more pleased Lord Jashin will be with me; let them come if they want, there's no way they'll survive my ritual."

"Not this religious shit again." Kakuzu growled under his breath, making a clear jump over the debris of fallen trees, and landing perfectly on the other side.

"Hey, we both believe in different things. You can obsess about money all you want, but I believe in Lord Jashin and his judgment to those who do not obey his will!" Came Hidan's expected outburst from behind. Kakuzu had about enough of him for one night. It was too bad he couldn't kill him. Maybe then he'd get some peace and quiet.

"Just keep your 'god' and ideals away from my money, and we won't have any issues." Kakuzu warned, before heading into a dense thicket with the Jashinist.

As the night completely dominated the sky, the two Akatsuki made their way into the vanishing darkness. Now just inside the border of the Land of Fire, they would only get closer and closer to the Leaf Village as they advanced towards their target.


	4. Suspenseful Calmness, a Decision is Made

_"More power, my young student! Gather up your youthful fury, and strike your enemy with it! Pound him into a new tomorrow! Show him what the Leaf Village's lotus can do!"_

_"Yes, Guy Sensei!"_

As soon as the darkness from the previous night had lifted, tree leaves began to dance in the warm sunlight. Ninja and citizens alike woke early and began to tend to their daily routines. These two ninja not only dressed alike, fought alike and had similar hair styles, but they also had some of the most abundant energy in the village. Waking up before the sun had even fully broken the mountains, they were hard at work training; a passionate student, and his even more passionate teacher, fully embracing their ninja way. Might Guy and Rock Lee.

"Alllllright Lee," Guy enthusiastically announced. "Before I head off on my mission, let's bring this spar to a shining conclusion. Come at me just like you did with those training dummies. Come at me…with the power of youth _burning your soul!_"

While Guy clenched his fist tightly and shook it, a broad smile on his face, Rock Lee dashed around the grassy training field in unpredictable, spasmodic movements. Flashes of green followed by trails of flying dust soared right past Guy more than twice, making his soup bowl haircut flow in the breeze right along with it. The man couldn't have looked happier.

"Ahahahahaaaa! That's it! Do you feel it, Lee!? No enemy can withstand the pure power of effort!"

In an eruption of earth, the elite jonin phased out of sight. A fraction of a second later, a deafening sonic boom was created from two fists colliding far above the ground. Lee and Guy flew away from each other, landed, and vanished yet again. Multiple explosions of sound burst from the little training field this time, as fists and legs struck against one another faster than the speed of sound. Truly, this was a perfect example of the Will of Fire.

But the only example it was not; an extreme one maybe, but certainly not the only one. Not far away, in the very same forest containing that training field was another perfect example. Another pair facing off in a bout of training.

"That's it Akamaru, soak those bugs! Show 'em how we use teamwork! Haha!"

A swarm of jet black insects, resembling a cloud of swirling smoke, was hailed on by a rain of yellow liquid. Their master, Shino Aburame, didn't even have to move an inch for the insects to form a hole in their mass, so for the liquid to travel through their numbers safely to the ground.

"It won't work, Kiba." Shino whispered, flexing his fingers out to his sides. The cloud of bugs hissed and dispersed over a wide area, before all closing in on Kiba and his dog, Akamaru.

"Oh yeah, well I got news for you Shino, neither will that!" Kiba barked. Crouching on all fours, he dug his nails into the ground, his chakra starting to stagger. His fangs and claws growing longer, he snarled with tenacity in his voice. "Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry! Fang Over Fang!"

Just as the insects came within a foot from Kiba, a small, twisting typhoon tore out of their enclosure. Unable to land on something spinning that fast, the bugs were forced apart, and to retreat to Shino's sleeves. The typhoon came to a sudden stop far away from Shino, and Kiba fell from it and onto his feet gracefully. Akamaru joined him by his side, and growled menacingly while Kiba sneered, his twin canines showing.

"Care to try again?" He mocked. "No grand prize this time, but you could still walk away with some dignity at least!"

"Bring it." Shino dared, his insects flying from his sleeves once more.

Even without the presence of their sensei, the genin of the Hidden Leaf trained to become stronger and stronger every day. Kiba and Shino always went at it with the utmost seriousness.

But more still, the Leaf Village had more than members of squads out training this early. Even the sacred clans of the village were already hard at work developing their skills. Above all the rest stood the Hyuga, who took pride in their heritage of passed down techniques more than any other clan in the Hidden Leaf. The Gentle Fist, and the equally deadly Byakugan.

"…"

"…"

An equal distance from one another, Neji Hyuga and Hinata Hyuga stood in battle-ready poses. Their chakra-filled eyes focused on one another so perfectly, that nothing was invisible to them; even the other's chakra network was in distinct detail. A single movement could provoke either to strike, and it was this tension that weighed down on them. Hearts were pounding, bodies were sweating, and trained hands were more than ready to jab at their opponent relentlessly.

"Do your eyes see true, Hinata?" Neji asked, his foot scuffing the light dirt. "I wonder if you could actually beat me, now."

"They do. I…I've become far stronger, my brother. You of all people should have surmised by now my strength." The timid girl responded, her bravery showing through now that she needed it most.

Neji flew for her, and the dance of two Hyuga's fighting began. Palms and finger jabs glided past one another, kicks twirled in overarching swings, only to slam back down to the ground, and all the while their eyes never broke in connection. Dirt and chakra filled the air, and all accomplished through this ancient taijutsu art.

"Well, you're certainly stronger than you used to be, I will humbly admit that." Neji smiled. "But I am eager to see how just how much you've grown."

Hinata nodded slightly, retaking her stance, and as did Neji. Once again the two remained like statues, giving the dust a chance to settle back down.

_"And it's all thanks to you, Naruto."_ Hinata thought to herself, her eyes glancing towards the sky. There was a light wind blowing. _"You're the reason I've been able to become stronger. Thank you."_

"Ah….AH!...AH-CHOO!" Naruto sneezed, neck making a sharp tingle of pain as his head jerked downwards. Great, he thought. What, now did he have a cold, too?

Until that sneeze, the blonde had still been lazily cuddling with his sheets, but now he was upright in his bed and wide-awake. He turned towards the clock on his bedside. 11:20. For…some reason he felt like that was important.

"Ughhh, okay come on, get out of bed, get out of bed..." he grumbled to himself, forcing his body from the comfort of the sheets and pillow, to standing upright. Looking at himself in the mirror, it was even more obvious he had to get going. Hair a mess, shirtless and nothing but his green and orange-designed underwear on, and not to mention without breakfast, he was hardly a menacing ninja to be feared among his enemies at the moment.

Naruto's gaze traveled from his tired face, down his front and to the seal on his stomach. Like a trigger, the events from yesterday all came rushing back to him in one heart-sinking realization. Brow furrowing, the boy glared at the marking.

That goddamn fox. Why the hell did he have to be involved, and like _this_? Within the next hour, the demon that had nearly eradicated his home, and had caused him the utmost pain and suffering was going to be here, in the flesh. How could they actually trust him? He was sinister, malicious and evil; there was no way he was going to keep to his word…

Fingernails digging into his soft belly, teeth clenched, Naruto took a deep breath and tried to think. Maybe he could convince them that this didn't need to happen; since when did he need that old pervert, or anyone else to teach him anyway? He could train fine by himself. If he needed sparring partners he could just make shadow clones for pete's sake. On top of endangering things by bringing that fox around, it was as if they were insulting him. Maybe he couldn't learn new jutsu for a while, whatever, but he could develop on his own just fine!

"Alright Grandma, Pervy Sage…" He said aloud, his decision made. "And you, you stupid fox. There's no way this is going to happen. It doesn't need to. You hear me? I don't _need_ your help! Nobody needs your help!"

Naruto's lazy bones attitude left his system within seconds, and was replaced by a burning passion; a passion to knock some sense into his hokage, and sensei, in one fell swoop. He threw on a black t-shirt, his sandals, headband and outfit, and was out the door within moments.

"…Heh, ya know, it's always so quiet in here. At least, when you aren't ordering missions or listening to Shizune freak out over something." Jiraiya said, opening the floor for conversation with the quiet old lady sitting behind the Hokage's desk. But Lady Tsunade's mind was anywhere but on small talk. Intently overseeing the village outside her windows, she was keeping a sharp eye out for spiky blonde hair making a bee line for her mansion.

"…And if you're looking for the knucklehead, it's still a bit early." The Toad Sage continued, calmly leaning back against the wall. "He's still got at least another half an hour before noon."

"If I know him, he'll be here far before that." Tsunade said simply. She chuckled over the top of her clutched hands. "He's not just a knucklehead after all; he's a passionate, reckless knucklehead. And I dare say he's gotten even worse with you having been around to reinforce that."

Jiraiya sprouted a wide grin and nodded. "Haha, indeed, Jiraiya the Toad Sage never produces a student who has all the time in the world to wait around! Hahahahaha!"

"Here we go." The fifth said, finally leaning back in her chair and spinning around to face her door in a single motion. Jiraiya stopped mid-laugh.

"Here goes…what?"

It was Tsunade's turn to smile.

"Oh you'll see. In three…two…one."

Jiraiya had just put his hand to his hair to scratch it in confusion, when the Hokage's front door was flattened against its hinges. In her doorway stood the knucklehead in person. With a determined look on his face, and a scowl that even a mother couldn't love, he marched into the room, firmly slammed his palms onto her wooden desk, and got his face as close as he could to hers.

"I'M NOT DOING IT!" He shouted. "You and the Pervy Sage may trust that fox, but I know him, and there's no way he'll keep his word! He's just as twisted as Orochimaru! I don't CARE if there might be a war, and I don't CARE if the Akatsuki are stalking after me, or that nobody can train me right now, I don't…"

Naruto's stream of consciousness began to lose traction, and as did his angry outburst. His lip quivering, he stepped back and looked at his Hokage straight in the eyes. She hadn't budged nor blinked since he had begun.

"It's just that…" Naruto went on, voice lower and more brooding than before, as if he was still deep in thought. "Why do we need to resort to him? Why? Even if nobody can train me right now, it shouldn't be a big deal!"

Jiraiya remained silent, eyes closed while he blended into the wall. As far as he was concerned, he had done his part with this; he had spent most of his evening last night explaining the entire thing to the kid. It was time for him to hear it from the Hokage herself.

Tsunade gave a heavy sigh and crossed her arms tightly. Her expression was cold and hard.

"It's time for you to make a decision, Naruto." She said, and for a second it looked like Naruto was going to blow his top for ignoring his statement. "…training by yourself is important, and using clones to spar with and test your skills with is a good idea as well."

Her bright red-colored nails tapped down against the desk. She laid her head in her other hand, elbow on the table. Naruto looked hopeful, but at a loss for words.

"But it's nowhere near enough. Any single member of the Akatsuki is easily a match for Kakashi or stronger, and on top of that, it isn't just Itachi and his shark friend Kisame anymore. _All_ of the Akatsuki are active, and god knows they're _all_ opportunists. If you run into any one of them, you'll be abducted, and killed when they suck the Nine-Tails out of you."

Jiraiya opened his eyes and stared at the Hokage as she continued to spell out Naruto's future for him, right there in black and white.

"And that's why," she lead on. "You need guidance on how to attain the next level. No more shadow clone training by yourself, no more going slow so you can master one thing at a time. You need to develop quickly, and it needs to be sooner rather than later."

The office was so quiet for a few seconds that the faint sounds of people chattering and walking about in other parts of huge building were completely audible.

"…And as I told you yesterday, Naruto," Jiraiya stepped in, his wooden sandals clopping against the polished and equally wooden floor upon going to his student's side. "We're up against the wall. One of the most stressful parts of a war is this situation we're in; the time before it's officially a war. As we try to continue missions and other daily functions, we're also in the dark on whether or not something will happen, and if so, where, when and how it'll be done from. It's like trying to grab smoke with your bare hands, and on top of that, not knowing if the smoke you're trying to grab is even the _right_ smoke."

"Every shinobi is needed, or we could all be in dire trouble." Tsunade played off. "We can't prepare for the worst case scenario from two opposite countries, _and_ spare Kakashi, Jiraiya or any other high-level ninja to train someone at your development level at the same time."

Naruto's bright blue eyes shook more than his clenched fists. Feeling helpless and without power, he avoided eye contact with either of them. Every time they went on, his insides boiled more and more.

"…Someone at 'my' development level? What the heck is that supposed to mean?" He growled.

"You're far enough so that not just any random chunin or special jonin can teach you." Jiraiya smiled. "Only those like me who have worked with you for a long time, know how you tick, and are also of high skill level can really get you along at this point, and quick."

Jiraiya put his palm down on the soft, spiky hair. "So at the same time, you're not far enough so that you don't need a sensei anymore. You've mastered all the generic skills and basics, but you need to develop more jutsu, and assimilate it into your own unique style. Rasengan and Shadow clones won't cut it against enemies like the Akatsuki. And at hand, the fox is-"

"-the only one who knows me and what I can do best. Right?"

"Right."

The young boy's stomach felt like a freshly broiled pot of ramen; he could almost feel the bubbles and steam filling up his insides. He wanted to fight back, to throw something, to break something, _anything_, just to let out his rising feeling of being a powerless child. They had no idea how he felt about this, and they wouldn't listen even if he tried. His entire body shook.

"We're done explaining." Tsunade concluded firmly. "Now, make your choice Naruto. We won't force you, but I can certainly guarantee that while bringing your inner beast out in this manner may be risky, you, along with every other person in this village will be at an even greater risk if we don't."

"…"

Jiraiya found himself caught between trying to physically help the boy calm down a bit, or to just leave him be. Naruto showed no signs of about to storm off, or to shake the sannin's hand from his head, so he simply kept it as is; still and laying there.

"Be trained by the demon that's made my life miserable…or be abducted and killed by the Akatsuki." Naruto said, his eyes finally rising again to match Tsunade's. She stared right back.

"…You and the Pervy Sage seem to believe he won't turn rogue and betray us. So all I have to say is…if I've suffered this far, Grandma, then there's no way I'll let this stop me either." He declared, thrusting a thumb at himself. "If I'm gonna be Hokage one day, I've gotta struggle through tons of crap I don't want to do. So go ahead, let's get this over with!"

Tsunade's smile appeared again. She promptly stood up from her chair, and pushed it into the desk. As if on a mission, a purpose in her every movement, she walked around to the front of desk and leaned against it.

"Glad to hear it. Now, come in!"

A few seconds afterwords, the door to the office opened, and Naruto looked over his shoulder to find a tall ANBU member with a peculiar mask and brown hair standing in the doorway. Like all ANBU he was as still a statue when he wasn't in the middle of an order. If you weren't looking at him, you wouldn't even know he was there. Naruto always found them to be a bit dodgy, like that…

"Wait here for me to return. I'll give you your assignment then. I won't be gone long." Tsunade said.

"Understood." The man replied. His voice was very calm and patient.

Before Naruto could even ask about him, the Fifth Hokage strode right past both him and Jiraiya and out of the room, calling after them to join her. By the time they had exited, she was at the other end of the hallway.

"Come on you two, pick up the pace!" She yelled hurriedly, leaping from the metal railing of the outdoor staircase, and running vertically up the cliffs of the Hokage Faces. The complaints from Naruto about where they were going and the loud clanks of Jiraiya's sandals came not far behind by the time she had gone over Sarutobi Sensei's cheek. Every passing stride against the rocky outcropping, and they grew closer and closer to the place in which the jutsu would need to be cast.

_"And prepare yourselves, too." _She thought, cold chills scampering over her skin at what she was about to willingly do. "_We're about to witness something that I may very well regret."_

With the rising of the sun near its peak as the day went on, a new chapter in the life of not only the Nine-Tailed Fox's jinchuriki, but for the entire Village Hidden in the Leaves was about to begin. The two sannin and the Nine-Tails reached a deserted section of the village, there behind some buildings atop of Hokage faces, and with a hand-sign, the three of them vanished in a puff of smoke. Anyone around who had happened to see them had to believe they had gone somewhere else.


	5. Ninja Art: Reverse Sealing Manifestation

To be able to stretch his legs outside this cursed cage, to be able to walk on the mortal plane with his own consciousness and senses once again, and to be able to do and enjoy the very simple things that were taken away from him, and to not just act as a generator of chakra for his host. These things returned to the top of the Nine-Tailed Fox's mind over and over again. And why shouldn't they? To be free was something that he had desperately clutched at for thirteen years; to be able to get his jinchuriki to release him. Now, a solution was possible of which he didn't even need to persuade the brat to do _anything_.

But at what price?

In that deep, dark chamber within Naruto's psyche, Kyuubi let his head lay on his hands, a look of resentment in his eyes. What good was freedom, when it was a freedom in which he was forced to train and live with the very child he was locked inside? Being the size of a large dog? His chakra no longer limitless? Hearing that brat's accursed voice day and night while he babysat him and trained him to take on the Akatsuki? The fox's claws scraped across the floor of his cage; he could already feel his dignity being dragged through the mud at these very thoughts. Leaving gashes that could split through a building, the fox's razor-sharp, curved talons retracted. His crimson eyes hiding behind his eyelids, he took a deep breath.

**"…Of all the humans in this world," **He said aloud, sharply cracking his jaw. **"I had to be sealed into a hopeless moron."**

Perhaps though, it wouldn't be so bad. The reward was rich indeed, and apart from training, there was no reason he'd need to stay anywhere near the kid. Assuming he won the trust of the Hokage, and stayed out of sight from villagers and other ninja, he could do as he pleased. The thrill of hunting and killing wild animals that he would now be able to stalk thanks to his smaller size was certainly another perk that he had at first overlooked.

**"Heh…" **Nine appendages starting to flow, the fox demon continued to contemplate this newfound situation. Pros began to emerge from the cons more and more. For example, being out in the open and training with the brat could actually prove to be rather amusing. Being able to taunt Naruto, watch him overreact, and then plow him into the ground effortlessly upon the boy's pointless attempt to attack brought an even more sinister expression to Kyuubi's already corrupted face.

But, brooding time was at an end. Kyuubi's eyes shot open, and his long, massive ears twitched a bit before rising upwards. Smirking, the faint sound of a conversation going on outside with the blonde brat and that fool Jiraiya had come to him.

_"Are you ready, Naruto?"_

_"…R-Ready."_

_"Alright then."_

Kyuubi's expression went from sinister, to an almost creepy smile of joy. Looked like it was finally time…time to come out and greet his _dear_ host in person.

The Toad Sage's aged hands flew into rapid formations, one after the other, with no pause or falter; a long sequence of hand signs, each one matching perfectly to the required set. It wasn't until Jiraiya had started that Naruto had begun to notice something; his hands, which were holding up his shirt to reveal the seal, were sweating. In fact, sweat poured down from his armpits and down his sides as well. There was absolutely no turning back now, he thought. The Nine-Tailed Fox, no matter how weakened and small he may become, was about to be in this room. With him.

"Tsunade, be at the ready." Jiraiya warned, only a handful of signs to go. "Even I don't know what he may first do."

Tsunade moved a little closer to Naruto, her bright eyes completely focused on the empty space between Jiraiya and them. At his granted power level, there was absolutely no way in hell he could try anything around two sannin, but even so…if for nothing else, it was for Naruto's peace of mind.

"Ninja Art:…" Jiraiya projected, reaching the final sign, Mi, before dashing forward to connect the fingers of his right hand to Naruto's seal. Taking the briefest of moments to pray that what he was doing now would benefit the village, the man clenched his fingers.

"…Reverse Sealing Manifestation!"

As his fingers drew back, five chakra strands attached to Jiraiya's fingers grew longer as he pulled away, connecting him to Naruto's seal. Taking one large leap backwards, he then made another Mi sign, this one even more tightly. The strands slowly began to arch out and form a dome shape, shrouding the space inside with an intense light.

**"…?!"**

Kyuubi's body began to shake violently. It felt as if something had clutched at him internally, and began to pull his insides apart. The demon let out an echoing roar of pain, collapsing to the ground and growling, the torturous feeling growing more and more intense. His tails bashed against the far back of the cage with agitation, and both of his hands shot out to smash against the inside of his prison. He had never felt such unbearable pain before in his long, ageless life.

"**ARRGGAAHHHHHHH!"**

The chakra dome soon grew so bright, that Naruto was forced to close his eyes. A powerful wave of air and heat blasted outwards in all directions, and Naruto's instinct was to move away as the air struck his face. But his feet wouldn't move. Something had him nearly immobilized, and the best he could do was close his eyes and tough it out.

_"Nnnghhh! Keep it going!" _Jiraiya shouted to himself, white hair soaring in the air behind him, forced to keep a single eye open to ensure the success of the jutsu. His hands clenched each other so tightly in the Mi sign that he could feel the base of his palms sear with pain. But nothing could stop this; he needed to complete the jutsu, and now.

Amidst the heat, air and chakra, Naruto's heart sank into his belly as a dark outline began to appear inside the dome. Two long ears pointed at the tip came back on top of a head with a snout pointed outwards. One and then two slim arms with large clawed hand-like feet began to arise from nothingness just below and behind the creature's head. Finally, a body burst into being, and the silhouette tried to gain its footing as the jutsu raged on. The monstrosity from thirteen years ago began to take shape, and Naruto could swear that he could distinctly hear horrifying roars from somewhere nearby.

"…Nnnnghhhh-AAAAGGHHHHHH!" Jiraiya bellowed. The dome ruptured in one explosive blast.

Just before he was sent flying backwards from the shock wave, Naruto had seen a flurry of twisting, tangled tails appear behind the outline.

"Christ, Jiraiya!" Tsunade snapped, her heels sliding a few inches along the floor until the shockwave had gone its course. "That _better_ not have failed! Neither of us can spare the time and energy to do this again!"

Jiraiya was knelt on the floor on the other side of the room, panting heavily. No, it hadn't failed. He saw it in Naruto's face just before the explosion. It worked. He looked back up to the smoke now covering the area where the summoning took place, but no visual was needed to know that the demon was present. The air stung with its intense presence; the presence of malevolent, ominous, and powerful chakra.

"…Looks like your little trick was successful." A deep, casual voice spoke. Jiraiya looked up to find the beast crouched at the epicenter of the smoke; eyes intently staring at him, tails flowing about in the air and across the floor around its body, claws outdrawn. Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Fox, sat before them in the flesh.

Tsunade had just stepped through the shroud of smoke when she saw him. She stopped in her tracks. This was what she had been thinking about for weeks, what she had prepared for, for days, what she had known was going to happen this morning. But nothing could prepare her for the real thing; Kyuubi's crimson eyes turned towards her, and with an exaggerated smirk, the fox bowed his head sarcastically.

"Good…_afternoon_, Lady Hokage."

"Kyuubi…I'd say it's nice to see you, but I can hardly call that the truth." Tsunade said slowly. "Never would the Fourth Hokage have dreamed that you'd be walking about once more. Unfortunately for us, you're our only alternative. Naruto's only alternative."

The fox got up and stretched his slender but firm body like a cat, claws at the forefront and fully extended, head low to the ground, behind high in the air. He stalked about the room, bloodthirsty eyes and revealing teeth giving him a demeanor of pure evil.

"Ahhh, speaking of our young spiky-haired ninja, where is he?" The fox asked rhetorically, peering around, awaiting the moment when Naruto's eyes would connect with his for the first time, outside his cage. The amount of influence that boy had coming to him from the demon, in return for demanding his chakra so many times, was overdue. "How I _long_ to greet my host in person!"

Neither Tsunade nor Jiraiya said anything, but it was apparent in Tsunade's face; she'd beat the fox straight into the ground if he even attempted to harm Naruto.

"What's wrong, brat? Where's the cute little boy who bravely demanded that a 'stupid' fox like me, give him his chakra as 'rent'?" The demon taunted, strutting around the room. His ever present tails swiped away any smoke still lingering near the ground, to reveal where his jinchuriki may be hiding. "The same boy who clung tightly to his sheets last night and didn't get an ounce of sleep, knowing that today is when he'd truly meet me. Where is that boy? I've got a few things I'd like to say to him. Why don't you come on out and introduce me to him?"

"He's right here, _stupid fox_!"

Kyuubi whipped his head around just in time to observe an overly zealous blonde ninja stamp his foot down on one of the nine flowing tails. The demon's eyes widened, his fur pricked on end, and he made an otherworldly cross between a hiss and a bark.

"Incompetent child!" He thundered, superior and relaxed demeanor dissipated; he lunged towards Naruto. There was a flash of yellow and green, and the distracted demon didn't even notice. A powerful thrust struck the beast's underbelly before his claws had gotten anywhere near Naruto's body, and he was thrown backwards and off his feet.

"Nnn, what?!" He barked, sneering and growling, claws making an ear-splitting screech as they dug into the floor to stop his reverse momentum. Blocking Naruto from view and standing with a firm, incorruptible air about her was Tsunade.

"Lay a claw or fang on him," Tsunade whispered, her palms outstretched. Her look was, if possible, even more threatening than the beasts'. "And I will _personally_ beat your manifestation into the ground!"

_"Well how do you like that? I just used all my energy to bring this thing here, and within two minutes, she's already making threats to blast it through the floor. That must be a new record." _Jiraiya chuckled to himself.

The Toad Sage had just now gotten to his feet. Taking care to dust off his clothes, he looked from the fox, to Tsunade, and finally, to Naruto. Ugh, what in the hell was this kid _thinking_?

"…Naruto, are you _trying_ to piss him off?" Jiraiya said suddenly, sternly eyeing the blonde disapprovingly. Said blonde did absolutely nothing but stick his tongue out. His focus was on the fox.

"Gee, you _think_ Pervy Sage? He should know by now that I'm not gonna sit here and let him mock me! I may have been scared at first by the whole 'bringing the Nine-Tails out of me and into our world' thing, but now that he's here, I can handle anything he throws at me!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at Kyuubi.

"Oh, there's the brave little boy I know so well." The demon said dangerously, sizing Naruto up. "Better watch it, child, one of these days that boastful attitude is going to put you in the ground-"

"-like we first told you a couple days ago, Kyuubi," Jiraiya intervened. "Tsunade and I have urgent business to deal with these days. We can't sit around and make sure you two get along."

"Then don't. Butt out, deal with what you may. I'm not about to kill my vessel, am I?" The demon responded, lying back down on its side, eyes still fixated on Naruto. "Your princess Tsunade didn't need to protect him a few moments ago. All I planned on was pinning this brat and making sure he knows damn well who around here is not going to tolerate his spunk."

Naruto gave a small growl of anger of his own.

"Sure didn't look that way. But either way, as I'm sure you may have also overheard, the wood clones of Yamato, one of the Anbu Black Ops will be surveying you 24/7 until it's clear you're being true to your word." Jiraiya explained.

"We get wind of anything that may be going on, and the wood clone can't handle it, I'll always be in the Village even when Jiraiya isn't," Tsunade added. "And you can bet I'll drop everything I'm doing and make sure you haven't endangered anyone. In other words, consider your situation on thin ice until you have more than-"

"Listen to this, two old fools telling a demon that's walked this earth longer than they can fathom, what to do; As if I was _actually_ a snot-nosed child who doesn't know any better." Kyuubi snarled. His red eyes now focused from one sannin to the other. "You came to me seeking help, and in giving it, I get all of this." The fox raised his solid claws hand and nodded towards it, demonstrating his point.

"Let's not forget that I am fully aware I have no true body of my own that can't be summoned away or limited in power, so my being here at all is not permanent in any shape or form, anyway. So don't assume that I'd so easily throw away a chance generously offered to me, just to slaughter a few innocents before I'm once again condemned to sit in a cramped, rancid, damp cage."

The fox demon got no response but two equally blank looks. Turning his back to them, he made a majestic leap to a closed window. With a lightning-fast motion, the window and its shutters were both blasted off their hinges in one loud crash. Satisfied in watching them tumble along the ground, shattered and chipped, he looked back one more time with a sly expression.

"…Besides, as far as my need to kill goes, if all goes well, and you do eventually allow me more of my full power and chakra, I can easily help slaughter a few of the Akatsuki swine you're so eager to be rid of." He said, orange-red fur ruffling, an actual wind touching him for the first time in over a decade. "In fact…the thought of meeting the former Uchiha Clan prodigy in combat makes my skin tingle."

"Stop! People will see-"

"_Shortly_ after I was brought here, I activated a special jutsu of mine to cloak my voice and visibility to all but a select few; you two, and the brat. I'll even add your precious Yamato if it means you won't bug me anymore." Kyuubi said simply, continuing to walk out towards the very edge of the Third Hokage's massive rock formation. Once there, he sat back, let his tails stretch out into the open air, and turned his head towards the sky.

"Heh, thinking ahead doesn't suit you." Jiraiya said, smiling. It appeared he wasn't going to be as hostile after all.

Opening the door to the tiny storage building, Jiraiya casually clopped over to where the demon had perched himself, and too stared off into the endless blue sky. A pair of birds flew around each other in random patterns as they made their way to their nest.

"How are you going to account for Naruto, or either of us talking to you in public, then? Talking to an empty space may spare panic, but it'll also raise suspicion."

"Anyone other than those I choose," Kyuubi said. "Are unable to comprehend that there is someone who is talking to nothing, unless the person tries talking to both me and other people in rapid succession."

"A genjutsu?"

"A rather simple one, actually. The idiot can talk to me all he wants, but as long as his conversation is strictly with me and no others around us, it will appear to others that he isn't talking to anything at all."

"Heh, tricky, and again, it doesn't suit you. But I'm appreciative that you've thought this all out ahead, or this plan would be libel to sink that much easier."

"I may care nothing for your lives, but I am not a mindless beast that is completely unreasonable. Assuming an attractive reward like this one is offered for my cooperation, I'm fully capable of remaining loyal to my word."

"Alright that's it, hold on just one second!" Came the shrill, loud voice of Naruto as he came sprinting out of the building. Coming to a screeching halt right behind his trainer and the beast, he pointed at Kyuubi, and then almost immediately to the massive Leaf Village below them. With an expression of pure disgust, he yelled, "Where the heck is this thing gonna stay!? Cause I can tell you and the grandma right now that it's not in my house with me!"

"What makes you think I want to be around you more than I have to be either, kid?" The fox responded coldly.

"Nothing, but trust me pal that sounds just perfect to me!" Naruto yelled. Jiraiya however, didn't look so sure.

"…There's actually a problem there." He muttered, rubbing his head and looking sheepish. "The way this jutsu works is that Kyuubi's manifestation is linked to his true form, which is obviously inside Naruto. Now, even though it can stand on its own for over two or three hours…if it goes longer than that, the manifestation will vanish and I'll have to pull it out again. The minimum proximity is one hundred feet, and the manifestation needs at least an hour to recharge, um, so to speak, between-"

"WHAT'S THAT!?" Naruto bellowed. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"What _am_ I, a _battery_? And here I thought I'd only need to deal with his stupidity during the actual training. Freedom is looking more and more like the same damn prison I just came out of, but from the exterior this time." Kyuubi scoffed.

"Rrrr, LOOK fox!" Naruto began to shout, his anger boiling up again every time something rude came out of his bijuu's mouth. But Jiraiya let his hand lay on Naruto's shoulder.

"Knock it off, Naruto." He ordered. "I'm sorry, Kyuubi, but it's the only way I could get the jutsu to work. Frankly I'm surprised we had no trouble with it at all."

Despite an obvious look of irritation, Kyuubi took one glance at Jiraiya, then to Naruto, and began to walk down the forehead of the massive mountainside image, embedded claws keeping him secure. Jiraiya said nothing, but Naruo's curiosity knew no bounds; now that the thing was out, he was every bit curious on what it planned on doing, when it did it, and why.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"To finally enjoy being out of your gut." The fox said smartly. "Then to hunt some animals, and then maybe, if you're lucky, begin to train you to not be a helpless weakling when you don't have my power to help you."

Kyuubi paused. Face scrunching, the demonic fox made a chortling sort of half grunt and then flat out laughed.

"What am I saying, having me as a trainer is anything but lucky for you."

With that, the fox leapt from the cliff head, arched through the air for a moment, and then rapidly fell downwards, hundreds upon hundreds of feet into the thin belt of trees that outlined the base of the hokage rocks. Soon he was out of sight, and Naruto was left standing, clenching his fists silently next to Jiraiya. The sannin could tell the boy was tense, without even giving his face a look.

"…Heh, looks like we've got our hands full." He managed to say, before the orange jumpsuit next to him too vanished in a flash. No doubt, the boy would be hot on the demon's trail all day. Jiraiya could only hope Kyuubi had a bit more patience then he gave himself credit for, for Naruto's sake.

Jiraiya stood back up and placed his palms against his back, stretching out his lower back and yawning. The sound of heels tapping against the hard stone ground came from just next to him.

"Do you think we can really trust him?" Tsunade asked suspiciously, hand on her hip and looking out over the village as her blonde pigtails danced in the high winds, up there on the cliff.

"Hard to say. But I trust him more than I did at first. His little speech to us was right, he's got nothing to gain by throwing this opportunity away." Jiraiya said. "And besides that…"

The man fell silent as he looked down towards the rock and put his arms across his chest. Long tail of hair swaying back and forth behind his legs, he simply shook his head with a smile.

"…What's on your mind?"

"Heh, oh nothing much, just the knucklehead. Call me crazy, or crazier than usual perhaps, but I get the feeling he'll be just fine."

"Heh. No, not crazy. Not _this_ time, anyway." She giggled. "Fact of the matter is I'm starting to believe you myself."

The wind howled through the high atmosphere even stronger than it had before, causing a high-pitched whistling to accompany the powerful breeze. Even so, the faint sound of a young woman calling the Fifth's name from somewhere down in the Village was audible over the noise. Tsunade sighed. Shiuzne. No doubt with a pile of papers the size of her arm, just waiting for Tsunade to go through.

"Well that would be my cue to get back to work, unfortunately. I can't linger here any longer anyway, poor Yamato may have fallen asleep by now waiting for me. And there's always the issue of missions and meetings about what our battle plan may have to be, too."

It looked so peaceful now, she thought, looking over the sea of colored buildings. But the woman knew more than anyone how quickly that could change. She had vowed upon her life to protect this land, and now more than ever, there was a real threat knocking at their door; she had to be the one to deal with it. There was no more time to waste.

"About Yamato." Jiraiya began. "Tell him his mission, but…I wouldn't make it sound life-threatening or anything, if I were you."

Tsunade stopped mid-stride back towards the Hokage mansion, and turned her head. The breeze blowing her hair away from her face, the doubt in her eyes, the tensed lip, and her furrowed brows became fully apparent.

"You don't trust him _that_ much already, do you? I mean yes, I agree with you about what he said, but let's not forget what this thing really is; a malicious demon that was once fully prepared to tear apart this village. Yamato will be fully alert at all times until the time comes when we can lax up."

"Heh."

Jiraiya only watched the clouds pass by overhead in response, and soon enough, his partner passed off his comment and headed back to the Hokage's bright red mansion, where she would be up to her neck in work regarding the possible upcoming conflict. Now that he thought about it, Jiraiya had his own mission he had to get going on today as well.

_"Sad part is, I kinda do. After all, Naruto, you have a power nobody else has. The power to change the hearts of everyone you meet."_

Jiraiya turned his back to the landscape view of the village, and began to head off into the thick cover of the surrounding woods. He knew he wouldn't be back for several days, or more, but his mind wouldn't stop thinking about how things were going on here during that entire time.

_"But I wonder, can you change the hearts of demons too?"_


	6. Unearthly Strength and Agility

**Been a while since this story had any sort of update, though, I have several more chapters down now, at least. Meanwhile, Shippuden continues to press forward and reveal new things that you shouldn't expect to find explained very much :3 Readers just need to keep in mind when this story was supposed to take place, and the knowledge the audience had at that time. Anyway, enjoy~**

Thirteen years ago, a monstrosity taking the form of a gigantic fox with nine tails attacked the Village Hidden in the Leaves. With gargantuan, restless tails, the beast smashed through mountains and caused tsunamis simply with a wave of them. There was only one shinobi who was powerful enough and brave enough to face the fox head-on in mortal combat. Known as the Fourth Hokage, he sealed the demon inside the belly of an infant child in order to defeat it, but at the cost of his own life. For saving the entire village, he is still revered to this day by every individual who lives there well over a decade later.

It's an old story.

Fate however, has a nasty habit of taking what's believed to be held permanent by man, and turning it on its head.

To an unsuspecting buck, the gentle rustling of bushes coming from behind him was nothing to fret about; the scent wafting from the approaching creature was of his mate. Even when the creature approached slowly and carefully, uncommon for a deer that wasn't frightened, the buck stood and continued to chew on a collection of grass, not suspecting a thing. Unfortunately for the deer, it was the last mouthful of grass he'd ever eat.

Claws catching the rays of the sun and glinting brightly, a powerful hand packing the entire weight of the creature swinging it came down across the deer's throat, and violently drove it into the earth. Body flipping over, the deer's scrawny legs were rendered useless as the huge, growling predator stood over its prey, easily pinning it with its heavy body. Kyuubi's eyes glistened, and his canines glinted just as brightly as his claws, clasped over the deer's upper throat.

"Using your mates' scent to sneak up on you isn't very fair, is it? Regrettably, I've never been one for playing by the rules. I suppose that makes me a Super Predator."

His meal obtained and ready, the fox let his jaw open to its prime position for biting down, while his nine tails twitched with anticipation. A menacing cross between a hiss and growl reverberated from deep in the demon's body as he prepared himself to end this in a single blow. Eyes full of blood lust, the beasts' neck flexed, and his head followed suit; the powerful iron jaws came crashing down onto the deer's throat…

"HA! Found you! What are you-HEY! What are you doing to that poor deer!?"

The Nine-Tailed Fox froze mid-bite, and his expression went from that of being excited over getting his first taste of meat in so long, to pure and simple loathing for his jinchuriki's horrendous timing. Fangs just barely touching the surface of the deer's throat, Kyuubi's attention was dragged away from his unearned food. In that moment of hesitation and lack of focus, the deer wriggled from the claws' grasp, stumbled to its feet awkwardly, and scampered away to the safety of the lime-colored brush. Kyuubi gave a loud snort, as if he knew this would happen. Naruto had inadvertently just saved the deer's life.

That said, the fox didn't bother to run after it. Sitting with defiance and contempt in his demeanor, Kyuubi avoided even looking in the young boy's general direction. Ears standing tall and fluffed, hands at its forefront, back stiff and arched, anyone but a clueless case like Naruto would know that it was agitated.

"What the heck was that!?" Naruto accused, flailing his finger in the direction of the escaped deer. He wouldn't call himself a tree hugger or a total nature enthusiast, but he was willing to bet that the fox didn't even catch that deer fairly! Besides, wasn't the 'great and powerful Nine-Tails' supposed to be training him sometime soon? What the hell was he doing this for?

"I told you didn't I, you useless runt? That I was going to go enjoy being away from you, and hunt some animals, before I even consider trying to see if I can get you to learn something." The ancient demon snarled, spinning his head to give the Uzumaki a death glare. Naruto returned it, and in turn put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Fine, then go run after it and catch it fair and square. Then you can train me, right?" He said simply, voice surprisingly calm and collected, albeit sarcastic.

Kyuubi remained silent and still, glowering at the child with infuriated eyes. One-track mind, a loud mouth, and too thick-headed to know when to shut up; there was no way in all of heaven and earth the demon could ever deal with this day after day. If he couldn't demonstrate how out of place Naruto was when addressing him soon, he may very well just end it all right now.

In a flicker, the beast's pupil's dilated. A piece of information had just dawned on him. No perverted hermit or temperamental hokage was here to save this brat from getting a stern talking to _this_ time. It also appeared that the threatened wood clone of that ANBU hadn't tracked them down yet. Kyuubi's twisted smile came back to him, with much welcome. Perfect.

"Maybe I should stalk that empty _head_ of yours, instead. Certainly would make for a far easier, more amusing _target_."

"H-Hey, what are you…?" Naruto stuttered nervously, losing his cool as the still rather intimidating tailed beast turned and began to close on him. At a couple feet away and no sign of stopping its pace, Naruto sauntered backwards, but tripped almost immediately over a depression in the grass. Kyuubi took his chance.

"Listen, child." The kitsune hissed, pinning Naruto to the ground with one claw over his chest, while his back legs and tails kept the boy's legs from moving. The rest of Naruto was too stunned to move. He sheepishly sweated there under the shadow of Kyuubi's face, inches away from his. Their eyes locked firmly, and the fox's claws started to create small incisions through the boy's jumpsuit, poking through his shirt and touching his bare chest; not to draw blood, but just enough to make his point.

"If I wouldn't die from you dieing as well, and I wasn't in this exact situation I'm stuck in with you at the moment, make no mistake, you'd be little more than an amusing blonde play toy to me before I ate you."

Naruto felt his sweat rapidly heat up, soaking his entire torso. His body was telling him to be as submissive as possible; tell the demon anything he wanted to hear, so that he'd get off of him, because this was dangerous.

But that wasn't Naruto. Not in a million years.

The knucklehead ninja found himself gripping Kyuubi's furred hand, and with a bit of effort, managed to move it off of him.

"Heh, is that right?" Naruto smirked cockily, completely ignoring his sweat, and doing his best to keep his legs from shaking. "Well that just stinks for you, doesn't it? Cause we _are_ in that situation and you _are_ sealed inside me. So come on already, are you done here yet or not?"

Deep, unforgiving red eyes peered down at Naruto from the forefront of two identical black trail markings, leading down the side of the beast's face. From his angle, it was all of the bijuu's face he could make out; his mouth was out of sight on the other side of his snout. But by his eyes and large pointed ears alone it was obvious that the fox was sneering. Of all things, the fox demon loved it when the insignificant flies tried to act brave and courageous in his presence. Naruto fit that title better than anyone.

_"I suppose now is as good as I can get. And that clone is no doubt already here." _Kyuubi contemplated. _"Besides, watching him still have the nerve to talk back to me like this?...I can't wait to see his smile vanish when I make his face one with the ground."_

All at once, the fox stepped off from his blonde ninja, and lingered off towards an old mangled tree. Like a leopard, the beast ascended his way to the topmost branch with nothing but brute strength and hooked claws in a matter of seconds.

"Very well. Follow me, brat, we'll be training in a remote location from here. The noise will surely attract attention, and we can't have people wondering if you're being attacked by an invisible enemy if they stumble upon us."

Naruto watched the bijuu dash through the tree canopies with ease, before it was out of sight. The ninja clenched his teeth, while his belly churned a bit. The noise would attract attention? Naruto somehow didn't like the sound of that. Nevertheless, this was what this had all been for; he followed suit along the forest floor, as if his body was on auto-pilot.

Naruto's footfalls on the grass, dirt and fallen leaves had vanished within moments. Not a few seconds after he had gone, a tall man bearing a colorful ANBU mask and a matching armored outfit gracefully landed down in the center of the clearing the two had just been in. Kneeling down and examining the route they had taken, he affixed his left hand to his ear.

"So far, nothing has required my step-in. There was one moment when I was tempted to upon first arriving, but Naruto seems to have handled it himself…Yes, I'll be keeping tabs from a safe distance."

The ANBU member stood back up, hand still to his ear. Nothing could be heard but the sounds of birds chirping and of the wind blowing past the area he stood in.

"And I think it's already aware of my presence. It may be why it backed off…Yes, I understand. The flares are ready to signal to Lady Hokage if need be. I'm following in pursuit now, over and out."

With a faint click, the man lowered his hand, and sank down into the ground.

_"What a tragedy it is to not be able to splinter these trees to shreds." _The spirit joked to itself, leaping from branch to branch with even more silence and skill than the average jonin. Its tails grouped together in a single jagged clump that trailed behind it, as to avoid unnecessary tangles or torn branches. Increasing his bodies' wind resistance as well, the demon bolted ahead like a bullet.

_"Curse my bad luck. If I didn't have an idiot to look after, I'd have no need to mask my trail from any potential stumbling upon. Hmmm…look at yourself Kyuubi, free in the outside world, only to be stuck with same goddamn kid you wanted to be rid of." _

Kyuubi's nose crinkled and his fangs bore in a menacing low growl.

_"Madara, you'd better hope you're dead by now, because I will thoroughly enjoy ripping out your intestines if I find you. You're the one who set this stone in motion, and it's been nothing but one annoyance after another for me, since then."_

The Leaf Village now miles behind, and the massive hokage mountainside blocking this expanse of forest from immediate view from the village, Kyuubi made a swift change in direction upon a final branch, and shot down from the trees. Closing his eyes and sighing with agitation, he strode past a few remaining rows of trees and into a second clearing. Much larger than the last one, it sported several small hills and boulders across its open, grassy plain. Glancing around, the fox nodded in confidence of his own selection in training ground. This would work perfectly.

All that was left was to wait for the moron to appear.

"Take your time, pest, I've quite literally got all day." Kyuubi said aloud, picking out a flat spot in the grass and flopping onto his side. Tails snaking along the ground, they wrapped about his canine frame like a blanket, and thus he formed a near perfect oval shape. Last to fall into place was his head, which kept his ears tall and alert, scouting out for the arrival of Naruto whilst he rested.

This expansive field had not seen any action for over a generation of young Leaf ninja; not since the days of Kakashi Hatake as a young jonin under the watchful eye of the Fourth Hokage, was it last used. Soon, it would become the stage for some of the most deadly training methods ever witnessed in the Leaf's long history. It would become permanently scarred by the jutsu of the very beast that had attacked the village thirteen years previous.

Sticking out like a sore thumb on the far side of the bright green field, the orange-red fox's long ears swayed ever so slightly in the powerful breeze. They flexed this way and that, continuing to patiently scan for any sounds of movement through trees or along the ground. A full three minutes passed before they finally twitched, and Kyuubi opened a single eye to lazily gaze in the direction of the movement.

On the other side of the field about half a mile away from where he lay, hidden among the thick tree leaves and branches, was the smallest piece of a white mask. Upon his glance, the mask seemed to dodge out of sight. For a moment, Kyuubi doubted himself as to if he had actually seen anything, but the odds were two to one; it had to be that ANBU. The demon forced a smile.

"There's our friend. Sure took him long enough. Hmm?"

Before he could finish his thought, there was another noise; a much louder, more obvious noise.

Kyuubi fully picked his head up and observed something in that vast field that stuck out even more than him. With bright blonde hair and bright orange clothes covering his entire body, Naruto stuck out so badly that he may as well have trained himself to be a living target instead of a ninja. The demon fox remained lying down, but his tails began to slowly uncoil from around his claws and underbelly, while Naruto approached, looking utterly exasperated.

"…Okay, what the _heck_! What were you in such a rush for?" He panted. "Seriously, you didn't seem this ready to train ten minutes ago when you were about to chomp through that deer!"

"First you complain about how I'm not training you right this very second, and then you complain that I'm going too fast for you. Life is so _very_ unfair to you, isn't it boy?" Kyuubi droned, the sarcasm making Naruto give a huff before he stretched himself out, and unzipped his jacket to help cool off.

"Well whatever…anyway, I hope you have an idea of what we're even gonna be practicing."

"Practicing?" Kyuubi echoed comically. "We're not going to be practicing anything. I'm here to teach you, runt, not to waste my time going over things you've already learned from Kakashi, or that old pervert."

"Okay okay, I get it!" Naruto said defensively, cracking his fingers and rubbing his shoulder. He was seriously starting to get annoyed by the demon…more than usual, anyway.

A cold chill coursed up the fox's spine as the wind began to flow down into the vast open valley, and ruffle his thick fur. He noticed that Naruto had ultimately decided to completely remove his orange jacket, and have nothing on but his black t-shirt, and the thin layer of chain mail hidden underneath it.

"Well then, let's get this show on the road kid; I've still got far too many things to do today that don't relate to being around you." The demon said, his nine appendages rising from the ground rather suddenly like cobras readying themselves to strike. Naruto instantly raised his guard, and whipped out a sharp-edged kunai from his holster. Bright blue eyes full of tension and focus now, his eye movements flashed from the tails, to Kyuubi's face, and then finally to his body as a whole. The fox himself wasn't moving an inch…but that look on his face had Naruto's heart pounding.

"Pay attention, child, you're about to witness something few other shinobi have ever had the fortune to see."

Naruto's eyes widened with his rising urge to charge into action. The nine tails swayed in the air directly over the back of the demon, still in an offensive pose, and Naruto didn't take his focus off of them. Kyuubi closed his black-outlined eyes for a brief period, before the world around them seemed to become silent, as he spoke in a dangerous, malicious voice.

_"Demonic Art: Infinite Lancing Tail!"_

"Huh!?"

If Naruto hadn't already been put on guard by the beast's tails, he would have been done for. One of Kyuubi's central tails had shot out at him like an arrow, only to miss the blonde by inches when it imbedded itself into the ground. At such a speed, it sent pebbles of earth and dust flying up to block both their views.

"What the!?"

Two, three, four more tails pierced through the dusty air like harpoons, aiming straight for Naruto's torso. Finding his footing from his leap backwards from the first attack, the ninja dodged to the side, feeling the air hit him in the face as the tails went right by his shoulder.

"Pathetic." Kyuubi stated. One of the three tails made a sharp mid-air turn, and wrapped itself around Naruto's left foot. Dragging him up into the air, it began to twist, whirl and swing him around, before throwing him back down towards the ground.

"!" As the wind shot upwards and stung his eyes, Naruto watched two more tails blast up towards him from underneath. This time, he was ready. Heart pounding, he let out a yell, and with a well-timed kick, struck one of the two tails, thus launching himself out of their way. He landed, made a quick dash sideways, and with Kyuubi in his sights, let loose two fistfuls of shuriken straight towards him.

"Hmm." The fox grunted. One of his tails that had stayed back came rushing forward to stop the attack. The eight shuriken struck the tail, and with shrill clangs, harmlessly fell to the grass at the beast's feet in rapid succession.

"What the…what kind of jutsu is this?" Naruto asked, bewildered. He now stood his ground not twenty feet from where the beast sat.

Kyuubi's defensive tail retracted back to its normal length, while the demon remained unmoving, smirking at the boy. Naruto observed the other tails as well; they too retracted in length back to Kyuubi's body.

"Not only can my tails stretch to any length I desire, but their fur hardens to the point of tempered steel." The fox explained. "Thus the name for this jutsu. Nine super-fast, solid, infinite length tails that will seek you out wherever you go."

_"So that's it. Tch." _Naruto thought._ "Man, it's only his first move and I'm already at a disadvantage! What's with this thing!?"_

"What does this have to do with-whaaa!?" Naruto yelped, ducking out of the way just in time to avoid another jabbed strike from several tails. He jumped backwards a considerable distance, trying to make sense of this; how was he going to defeat something like that?

"It has _everything_ to do with your training." Kyuubi called. All nine of his tails shot forth at once this time, and Naruto was forced into an off-balance jumping, dodging, ducking and twirling dance, just to avoid getting hit by the writhing objects. Kyuubi looked more than overjoyed at seeing the boy so helpless.

"If you think all the Akatsuki are close to mid-range fighters that you can defeat just by charging up with shadow clones and Rasengan, then you're an even bigger idiot than you make yourself out to be. Long-range enemies are tricky, and the only two ways to defeat them are to find a way to get close, or to have another long-range fighter with you that can beat them at their own game."

His mind scattered between dodging for his life and trying to make sense of Kyuubi's words, Naruto awkwardly split his legs to evade one tail, while cracking his neck to the left to dodge another one. The back of his neck tinged in pain, and though he could ignore it, the fraction of a second it took for him to realize what the pain was, was enough for a tail to wallop him in the stomach. Thrown backwards and off his balance, Naruto collided with a boulder that sat several meters behind him.

"Since the latter won't always be available, you need to master the ability to get close to long-range enemies, despite overpowering attacks." The fox continued. "With this jutsu, I can attack you at all ranges while staying in one spot. Get close enough to launch an attack on me, while dodging all nine of my tails coming at you full-force. That is your first lesson, in which you need to master."

"Tch…" Naruto spat, rubbing the back of his neck. One hand on his knee, he stood back up, and took advantage of the fact that the assaulting tails had ceased for the moment. Now he at least had a chance to thoroughly think.

_"Well at least that much makes sense. I thought he was just having fun attacking me, by that look on his face."_

Naruto looked over the fox spirit carefully. Though he was just sitting there, the pure number of tails, each one as quick as lightning and hard as steel meant that he had an incredible offense and defense at the same time. Gaara's sand came to Naruto's mind. Not only that, but he was nowhere near any boulders, hills or any other sort of cover close enough to the fox; that meant that there would be no chance to gradually sneak up close and surprise attack him. This had to be all or nothing, one shot, one hit or miss.

Heh. Well in that case…

"_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Naruto exclaimed. His hands met in the appropriate hand sign, and directly following them came a large blast of white smoke. Slowly expanding in the air, it served as a smokescreen for only a brief moment, but that was all the time Naruto needed to execute his plan.

"_If you think you can beat me with just your tails, then you're the one who's an idiot!_" Came the resounding voice of altogether ten Narutos. They broke through the smoky barrier in a group, and while some continued to fly through the air, others hit the ground running, pulling out kunai and shuriken in the process. All of them headed straight at the fox with the same exact intent; He had to find a blind spot, a weak point—something! He wasn't gonna let that smirk stay on the fox for long!

"How surprising." Kyuubi muttered. Effortlessly, his tails rose up into the air and zigzagged around his body threateningly.

"Rrrrr, alright, here we go!" One of the clones yelled, putting weight down on one foot and making a powered leap to the fox's left side. Another clone did the same for the right, and three more skidded around to Kyuubi's backside. The four that were still in mid-air hovered overhead, clenching the metallic weapons in their fingers and biting their lips in anticipation; there. Everything was set.

"GO!" The real Naruto commanded, charging from the front and making the first attack. With all his might, he aimed for the fox's head, and hurled the knife. On cue, every other clone hurled their weapons as well, kunai and shuriken alike. Altogether twenty-three ninja tools whizzed or cut through the air, on a path for Kyuubi's body. Amidst this, the fox demon gave no notice to the impending sharp objects except for a bored yawn.

"Well, how can I put this," He began, just as a flurry of orange-red hazed his appearance, and his tails rendered every single weapon useless. "...I think you heard me wrong, brat. Wrong tactic. I said 'get close', not 'attack from all sides.'"

The flurry of tails that had just acted as a shield now sprang forth from Kyuubi like nine jack-in-the-boxes. Too late to dodge. Naruto choked and gasped as the wind was knocked from his body by a spearing tail, which drove him along the ground and directly into the boulder from before. Coughing, he opened one eye only to see that none of his clones had gotten through either. Each one was brutally stabbed through the torso or beaten back by a tail, before poofing out of existence.

_"Not a single one…he blocked it completely, just like…"_ Naruto blinked. The image of Neji Hyuga using his Rotation technique to repel his clones in that exact same fashion came to his mind. Heh. This time, he didn't have the fox's chakra to whip out and use to his advantage like he did back then, though.

"Awww, what's the matter? I hope you didn't honestly expect that to work." The fox taunted. Tails withdrawing, they turned their tips to face towards the remaining Naruto, as if they had a mind of their own. "I say you give up for today. Develop a better strategy for trying to get past this defense and offense of mine."

"…Give up?" Naruto repeated, getting back up without any hesitation or discouragement from that last complete failure. Determination to prove the demon wrong filled his eyes. "No way, fox! I'll land an attack on you today if it's the last thing I do!"

Naruto began to make another hand sign. But Kyuubi's patience had gone; there would be no short pauses in-between attacks now. With cold, unimpressed eyes towards the boy's abilities, Kyuubi laid his head down to the grass, closed his eyes, and let his nine appendages finish the job. Maybe later on he'd have some more patience towards actually developing him…but for the moment, other things occupied his mind.

"It's over."

The sharp sound of spear-like objects ripping through the air, advancing towards a single target became overwhelming. This time, the tails moved at full force, enough impact power to shatter through solid stone. Naruto took a deep breath, built up his chakra, and made a cocky smirk.

"_Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!_"

And with the finale of a deafening crash, the tails contacted, and a suitable explosion of erupted earth and grass was sent soaring into the sky. All become quiet, as the large cloud hid the ends of Kyuubi's anchored tails from view. The demon fox opened his eyes again, with a look of mild surprise on his muzzle.

"…So, he managed it after all, did he?" The fox said aloud. Chuckling, Kyuubi arched his back and stood back up, while eyeing the utterly massive sea of blonde spiky hair that now occupied the complete second half of the field. A swarm of confident blue eyes all stared at the demon at once.

"However, it makes no difference, child." He added, veins visible in his deepened red eyes. He made his tails retract for a final time, and again threateningly whip around about his body. "As you've been told before I'm sure, three-hundred times zero is still zero."

"Is that right? If you're so confident, why haven't you attacked yet?" One of the clones barked. At his words, an uncountable amount of other clones drew on kunai and shuriken, just like before. Kyuubi's experienced gaze carefully observed them. A full-out attack of weapons, then taijutsu, all to distract him from the real Naruto and a clone, who'd rush in from somewhere and use Rasengan. This brat was so predictable it was almost scary.

"Because unlike you, I'm not reckless." Kyuubi mocked. He lowered himself to the ground, seeking out any hint of the Rasengan's presence within the crowd. Sensing none, he turned his attention back to the sheer volume of clones, and prepared himself for the incoming barrage.

"Alright everyone, let's do this!" Came a voice from within the mass of copies. Soon enough, kunai, shuriken, and tails filled the air, along with yells and the sounds of colliding metal objects. With the demon fox on one side and the clone army on the other, the middle ground was nothing but a furious storm of sparks and flashes of silver and red.

Away from the action, within the thick cover of foliage on the edge of the clearing and just inside the Leaf's forest, sat the ANBU. Through the two hollowed out holes in his wooden mask, he observed the climactic battle with a look of utter shock, hidden underneath his calm-appearing mask.

"…This sure is something else. I had heard he knew Shadow Clone Jutsu, but to think he can conjure up that many solid clones…" He whispered.

For the time being, both sides weren't gaining any ground. Kyuubi's impenetrable tail defense was not being pushed back, but the rain of weapons and physical attacks coming from Naruto also kept the demon from advancing. But this deadlock wouldn't last forever…eventually, the clones' numbers would diminish, Kyuubi's jutsu would get through, and that'd end Naruto's chance.

_"If he's going to have any chance of landing an attack, it's going to need to be done during this stalemate. I hope he realizes that."_

"Hehehe…such a waste of both chakra and weapons." Kyuubi scolded, the overwhelming speed of his jutsu easily dashing away any and all attacks from Naruto's frontal assault. Confident in his superiority, the fox slumped back down onto his belly and stretched his clawed hands out into the warm grass. Mere feet in front of him, his tails acted as a moving shield wall, moving too fast to see, and sending kunai and shuriken deflecting in random directions.

But a few clone rows back, an individual clone gave a wide grin. Little did that fox know that this was far from over! That lack of guard was just what he had been looking for.

"…NOW!" He bellowed, drawing Kyuubi's eyes almost at once.

"What are you…?"

"You're _finished _now!"

The fox turned his head curiously to the voice directly behind him. Charging towards him at full force, with a clone accompanying him, was the real Naruto; a Rasengan as bright blue as his eyes was being created mid-stride in his right hand. The familiar noise of swirling chakra became fully audible to even Kyuubi.

Just as Naruto was upon the beast, the clone vanished, and he leaped up into the sky. Kyuubi followed him with his head, but growled and clenched one eye shut; whether it was a fluke or the idiot had actually done it on purpose, the sun beat down into the fox's eyes from right behind the descending ninja. Arm out-stretched, Naruto could already feel victory over the first training exercise within his grasp. Twenty feet…ten feet…five feet…

"_Rasengan!_"

A deafening sonic boom…was not the sound that Naruto had expected. Gasping, he found his Rasengan pitted against a red haze of chakra, roosted in Kyuubi's opened mouth. The demon had forced his body one-hundred eighty degrees at the very last second, and now, it was Naruto's jutsu versus Kyuubi's, head on.

"So you went with your same old trick after all. Shouldn't have let my guard down." Kyuubi muffled through his jutsu, daring and cold eyes locked with Naruto's determined ones. A pressured wave of hot air and chakra emitted from the clashing jutsu like some gigantic furnace.

"Nnnnn!"

Suspended in mid-air from his initial impact, and now held there by the erupting wave of chakra and heat, Naruto squinted through forced tears and put all his strength into his right arm. He had come too far…and with his clones having vanished from his confidence a moment ago, there was no way he was gonna let this freakin' fox win through a cheap trick!

"!" Kyuubi dug his sharp claws into the soil in an attempt to anchor himself from getting pushed backwards. Even having done so, little by little, his claws scraped through the earth.

_"He's pushing me back. This runt is actually pushing me back!"_

Enraged, the fox strained his front legs and pushed his head forwards by an inch or so, regaining the solid stalemate. Stress in the earth around them began to react in the form of large cracks, darting from their position and making the ground completely unstable. If he were to slip or lose his anchorage, it'd be all over. Kyuubi glanced at the point in front of his mouth. Both his chakra blast and Naruto's Rasengan were tightening, getting more and more stressed. If one of them didn't give soon, they'd both be caught in an explosion.

_"Nnn! So close!"_ Naruto told himself, the muscles in his arm starting to throb in pain as he pushed against Kyuubi's entire upper body strength.

_"Damn it, this is far too risky. I can't afford losing this body right now." _Kyuubi considered quickly. His neck was starting to feel the same pain Naruto's arm felt, and to the fox, it was the last straw; it was time to give up gracefully.

In one lightning fast movement, Kyuubi became an orange red blur, and disappeared entirely. The heat and chakra wave, the strain, and the cracking earth all stopped in unison as well. All that was left was for poor Naruto to awkwardly fall face-first into the ground.

"Gahh!" He yelped, chin grinding against the dirt, Rasengan dissipating, a generous amount of grass sticking to his orange pants and black shirt upon finally coming to a stop.

"There you go, training finished for today." Kyuubi concluded, turning his tails to the boy and skulking towards the forest. "So leave me the hell alone, go eat at your ramen shop you love so much, and rethink your strategy on how to get close to me."

"Nnnn…hey!" Naruto barked after him, rubbing his nose and chin delicately. "I'm just getting started! That was hardly a training session! We've barely been here for-"

"-Fifteen minutes, that's right." Kyuubi finished for him. His tone was once again impatient and full of t "And that's because it's taken that long for you to even begin to get serious. So I repeat, go come up with a better strategy than the same damn thing you always use, train on your own, then we can continue in the morning."

Naruto stood back up and continued caring for his throbbing chin. Stupid fox. Man, what the heck was his problem? Did he really have that little patience? Or maybe he just was looking for an excuse to go mess around and do what he wanted!...Or was he just sore because he had actually come close to being beaten out by Rasengan? At that last thought, Naruto snickered.

"…Whatever, it almost worked on you anyway. Can't be _that_ bad of a strategy."

The boy got no answer. All the same, Kyuubi's ears gave a violent twitch.

"By the way…" Naruto began, his mind wandering onto other subjects now that the intense training had come to an end. The very first thing that came to mind was the issue of nighttime. The more Naruto thought about how it was going to work, the less and less he liked it. "…If you only last a few hours before you need to come back to be near me like the Pervy Sage said, then where exactly are you gonna sleep? Cause…unless you don't sleep, then you'll have to be near me pretty much all night…Awww man that's gonna _suck_!"

The fox demon stopped dead in his tracks, and pondered the question himself. He could feel his insides start to burn over with frustration. Immediately after Naruto's, Jiraiya's words came running back into his thoughts.

_"Kyuubi's manifestation is linked to his true form, which is obviously inside Naruto. Now even though it can stand on its own for over two or three hours…if it goes longer than that, the manifestation will vanish and I'll have to pull it out again. The minimum proximity is one hundred feet, and the manifestation needs at least an hour to recharge."_

He was caught between a rock and a hard place. While he technically didn't _need_ to sleep, he had lack of any sort of comfortable sleep inside Naruto's body, being confined to a mucky cage. Now having a body born from chakra in the real world, he thought he might enjoy having sleep to look forward to…

"The roof." Kyuubi said at last. "I'll sleep on your roof, above your bedroom. It's close enough to you so that I won't vanish, but I don't need to deal with-". Wait. That wouldn't work. If he was asleep, his jutsu to keep himself invisible to everyone but the idiot would turn off. The Nine-Tailed Fox sleeping on Naruto Uzuamki's roof would send everyone into a frenzy.

Letting an absolutely tortured growl escape his jaws, the fox drooped his head, and chuckled manically to himself. There was no way out of it; no matter how much he racked his brain, nothing else he could try would work. He would just have to try and sleep somewhere inside the brat's apartment in order to avoid being discovered, and yet resist the urge to flatten Naruto's head. Naruto seemed none the wiser at the moment, and was content with the roof answer, unaware of the big, obvious problem with it. Oh well, he'd find out tonight the hard way.

Ramen bowls stacked on top of one another through the kitchen, empty ramen cups with a minor amount of stale broth and cold noodles still left at the bottom sprawled throughout the apartment, and uncleaned clothes scattered about the floor along with opened jutsu scrolls and trash. Utter filth, a complete lack of cleanliness, and all this already on top of his mind-numbing obnoxiousness. Kyuubi's eyes shook in their sockets while he pictured what he'd be walking into in another several hours.

_"You irritating, ancient, mind-controlling uchiha. Once again, this is your entire fault, and I will rip you limb from limb when I find you."_


	7. Lying in wait, the Akatsuki on the move

"…Can I kill that guy? I didn't like the way he looked at me."

"No."

"How about that guy over there? He doesn't look like he'll be missed, an excellent candidate for Lord Jashin!"

"No."

"Can I kill _anyone_ around here?"

"No."

"For crying out loud Kakuzu, where the hell is your sense of fun!?"

Being members of a crime syndicate that was dedicated to global domination through the collecting of gigantic demons, one might assume that such members would remain quiet, mysterious, and try to keep the attention away from themselves. Such assumptions would be correct. This particular pair however, the 'Zombie Duo' Hidan and Kakuzu, were an exception. A loudmouth religious nut paired with a calm, yet short-tempered and greedy mystery man from a small village.

Exasperated, Hidan wiped his arm across the table once more before resting his head down upon it. He ground his teeth back and forth, not wanting to think about how Lord Jashin would be upset with him for not having shed blood in so long.

In comparison, Kakuzu sat calm and collected, holding his cup of tea in one hand, and carefully observing the bill for their food left by the waitress in the other. After what seemed like forever, he put down a small amount of money.

"The amount due seems to be in order. We're leaving, Hidan." Kakuzu announced, setting down his cup gently and standing up.

"Oh well that's just great, isn't it?" Hidan began to complain, loudly bumping against the table upon getting up, and following his partner. All eyes watched them leave while on their way out of both view and earshot.

The day was morphing into night quickly. Shadows from the trees got longer, pure sunlight began to turn into a dim shade of orange, and the temperature in the air lowered more and more. Even the dirt paths that made up much of the roads in the Land of Fire were becoming more and more difficult to see along the entirely shadowed ground. It was this time of day when bandits and other thugs would begin thinking of mugging unsuspecting travelers. But these two men were part of a group that could have very well written the entire book on being bad; they strode along down the road with nothing short of complete confidence.

"So then, where to now?" Hidan asked, pulling out his scythe and laying it horizontally over both shoulders. "You got to pick up your precious money, so we're done stickin' around here, right? Oh by the way, waiting for your seller guy to fork over the ryo took long enough."

"You're the one who wanted to go sightseeing afterwards." Kakuzu interjected. Though conversing, his emerald pupils surveyed the surrounding forest carefully, as if he were scanning for something.

"Pfft, sightseeing? It's not sightseeing!" Hidan laughed. "It's getting something to eat, and taking a rest in a small village for half a day! Walking around all day and not doing much of anything plays on my nerves. On top of the fact, that if I don't cut something soon I'll go crazy!"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

_"Crazy being a relative term, Hidan."_

Reaching a fork, the two turned right. Not long was it when the path began to get narrower and narrower, the forest getting thicker and thicker. Kakuzu turned to his partner, forever furrowed eyebrows making him look terrifying.

"We're on our way to discuss with the leader and some of the others which of two paths we take from here." He said lowly, digressing.

"Eh? What the hell is that supposed to mean? What two paths? And the leader? Why do we need to talk to _him_ again so soon for?" Hidan grumbled, grasping the tail-end of his scythe's handle, and scraping the top-most blade along the ground, just to listen to the sound. Seriously, they got their mission to capture the Two-Tails, why did they need to have another meeting when they hadn't even located the damn thing yet?

"Just shut up and follow me." The second Akatsuki growled, heading into the mouth of a massive overlaying cavern. Though grudgingly, Hidan followed in toe, cocking an eyebrow at how Kakuzu had stopped and made a hand sign upon entering. The mouth of the cavern was slowly enclosed by a huge boulder; being controlled by Kakuzu's chakra, it made the very ground shake until it fit into place, and rendered the inside almost completely void of light.

With only the sounds of their own sandals against the hard stone, Hidan moved his foot around on the ground. Feeling no jagged rocks or other obstacles, he sat down and crossed his legs. Clanging to the floor, his scythe laid beside him.

"A bit much don't you think?" Hidan asked, referencing to the massive boulder.

"You can never be too careful. Now, you know the drill-"

"Yeah yeah, I'm on it, jeez."

Together, the two men closed their eyes and made identical hand signs.

Hundreds of miles away, two additional luminescent holograms sprung into being next to numerous already-existing ones. Dominated by a pale green color, swirls of red and blue-green floated about inside each and every one like a lava lamp. The only feature not distorted and hidden by the hologram's color were the eyes, which stuck out on the images like a light in the dark.

"You're late." A deep, demanding voice spoke out. Though muffled and scratchy through the hologram, the rings around his glaring pupils were enough to convince Hidan to force out a casual apology, despite not having known about this to begin with.

"Don't look at me, Kakuzu's money addiction got the better of him again." The Jashinist said, pitting the blame on his partner and looking up at the ceiling innocently.

Chuckles came from one or two of the holograms. One from a man with small beady eyes and a massive object sitting on his back, and the other a forced chuckle and grunt, from a man with only one of his blue eyes visible thanks to his hair draped over the other.

"At any rate," The apparent leader began. "This meeting will be very brief, that is why you were not told Hidan. Kakuzu however, you know why we're here."

"Yes." Kakuzu replied, not having moved his eyes since his hologram had appeared.

"It's about the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, right? Hmm." The blue-eyed man said, his tone utterly carefree.

"Yes. As we're all aware, the Leaf Village is in distress at the moment. Surrounding lands are looking very tempted to make some sort of play, perhaps within an alliance with one another. The Leaf's numbers are focused on areas important to keeping invaders from unfriendly lands out." The leader explained.

"Hehehe…another possible war, eh? Now of all times, sounds like things may get interesting." The sinister voice of the man with the beady eyes chimed, thrilled at such a prospect.

"But that's not all." The leader continued, addressing the entire room once more. "We have reliable information that Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, and the same man who foiled Itachi and Kisame's initial attempt at abducting the Nine-Tails, was assigned a mission far from the village. Jiraiya took the role of the Nine-Tails' teacher some time ago, and is usually close to him, but for the moment, he is out of the way. Furthermore, Kakuzu and Hidan are remarkably close to the Leaf. At this very moment they are inside the Land of Fire, and are only a couple of days' trip from the Hidden Leaf Village."

"Hah, talk about lucky breaks." The man known as Kisame said, turning his eyes to his partner, the man of the sharingan, Itachi Uchiha. "Sounds a bit unfair if you ask me Itachi, he is our target after all. But I guess that's how things turn out sometimes, huh?"

"…"

"Ughhhh, get on with it already, you're boring me to pieces!" Hidan moaned, instantly getting looks from every other holographic member.

"Never did have any patience." Came the low drone of the shortest of the present members. Rounded in shape and low to the ground, he stood next to the blue-eyed man, whom scoffed at his statement.

"Haha, you're one to talk, Sasori my man. Isn't your favorite phrase, 'I don't like to be kept waiting'?"

"Deidara…" Sasori growled threateningly, a large scorpion-like tail erecting from behind him.

"This has gone on long enough." The leader said at last. "Kakuzu, Hidan. Normally we wouldn't act this hastily given our failed attempt to abduct the Nine-Tails the last time, but not taking advantage of this rare opportunity would be foolish. The Leaf's power is spread out all over the nation, and in addition, the Nine-Tails' teacher who is often at his side is temporarily absent. Since you two are so very close at the moment, this is your new order: before you seek out the Two-Tails, go to the Hidden Leaf Village within the next twenty four hours. Seek out Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and capture him alive by any means necessary."

"Understood." Kakuzu replied darkly.

"Hahaha!" Hidan bellowed, eyes brimming with delight. "Now that's more like it! A chance at some actual bloodshed! Lord Jashin will be most pleased!"

"Make sure you do not fail this mission. Itachi, Kisame, stay on standby for your next orders from me. And as for the rest of you, I expect no less than complete success from you as well. Meeting adjourned."

"You've got it. Come on my man, let's get going. Hmm."

"Hehehehehe, well Itachi, guess we should be going then, too."

"…"

Flickering into nothingness, the leader's hologram vanished without another word. One by one, the other holograms did the same, with the very last being Hidan and Kakuzu.

Feeling returning to their bodies, the Zombie Duo opened their eyes to the infinite darkness of the small cave, and stood back up. Making a sudden hand sign, Kakuzu manipulated the large boulder obstructing the entrance, and made it recede. Almost no light left outside, they could barely use it to walk out and find their way back onto the sliver of path leading back into the woods.

"There." Kakuzu said with relief in his voice. "Now you can leave me alone about why we're out here, and also about how you have 'nothing to cut'."

Hidan's eyes were crazed and bloodthirsty. Spinning his scythe around in the air, he tore into the earth and scraped through it. As if an extension of his hand, he gave a look of pure excitement.

"Heh! I was wrong to doubt you Kakuzu. Just think, the power of Jashin slashing down and bringing judgment to the non-believers of that egotistic village! It makes my skin crawl at the very thought! Let's get going, Kakuzu, we've got a lot of ground to trek in the next day! Hahahaha!"

Kakuzu stood and watched as his partner joyfully ran off into the woods, brandishing his scythe and bringing down tree after tree as he went. Hmmm. Their primary goal would be to quietly abduct the Nine-Tails, and ideally _not_ to have a blowout battle royale with the ninja still in the village. Still, it made the Jashinist happy thinking that was the goal, and it got him off Kakuzu's case for a while. Why spoil his fun this early and hear about it all the way to the village?

"And to think, he was the one whining about how much we have to walk around just a short while ago." Kakuzu mused aloud, taking his time in disappearing into the shaded woods.


	8. A Bijuu and his Jinchuriki

"…M'lady?" Came the concerned voice of the Lady Hokage's right-hand assistant. After getting permission to enter, she stepped in quietly, arms wrapped around a small plump pig wearing a red vest and a large necklace of pearls. A sympathetic and caring expression on her face, she stared on at her mistress and waited for recognition.

"What is it, Shizune?"

"…Lady Tsunade, you've been here all day. Don't you wanna get some rest?"

That was right. Tsunade lazily lifted her hands from her stomach, and gave a heavy sigh. She had been sitting there, staring out over the village for over half an hour and hardly noticed that it was nearing night. She had been half-expecting to see an explosion from a rampaging Kyuubi at any moment, as it illuminated the darkening sky. Late as it was, Yamato's clone had not returned. The darker the sky got, the more and more the fear in her chest built and built.

"I can't. Not yet." Tsunade said sternly. A hint of anxiousness clung to her voice. "I need to know Yamato's report."

Shizune looked down at Tonton, who returned the gaze and gave a worried oink. The assistant was more than aware of the massive amount of risk, and stress to this situation. It went beyond simply the danger of the Nine-Tailed Fox getting out of hand. This entire operation was secret to any and all advisers of the Village. Jiraiya, herself, Tsunade and Yamato were the only people in the world other than Naruto that knew the truth; that the most powerful tailed-beast was once again walking about as he pleased in the human realm.

"Lady Tsunade, do you remember what I told you? Back when you and Master Jiraiya first came up with this idea?"

Blanketed in the moonlight, Tsunade's face appeared as white as ghost, and it perfectly matched her uneasy stomach. Digging her heel into the wooden floor, she forced herself to spin around in her chair, away from the village's silhouette, and to her assistant.

"You had concerns about not telling the elders, right?" She said matter-of-factly, planting her elbows on her desk and her chin atop the back of her palms. Shizune gave no response, but again looked at the ground.

"Look at me Shizune." She ordered, tension building on her patience.

"Y-Yes M'lady!"

"It should be obvious that they'd never approve of this idea. Normally, I wouldn't either, but…"

She spun around ninety degrees, and crossed her legs. Never had she felt so tense; fighting Orochimaru and Kabuto, dealing with Naruto's constant dogging to have a mission to chase after Sasuke, no, none of it compared to this. Nothing compared to the risk of keeping a secret this dangerous.

"I was cornered." She muttered. "The Land of Wind and a few of the other allied nations are willing to help us put up more defense, but I don't want to make a prompt for a declaration of war by more or less publically stating that we're dragging our friends into this potential mess, without a single threat or attack having been made yet. We need to protect ourselves alone until a decision is finally made, so we can't spare our best man-power…yet, we need Naruto to develop as soon as possible, for obvious reasons."

"Lady Tsunade…" Shizune breathed, the difficulty of the situation pressing onto her as well.

"But that's when Jiraiya made his proposition." The Hokage said, starting to lift a smile as she thought of her perverted, goofy partner's face. "Heh, he was so determined to make it work, so eager to prove to me that he could do it. Just like when we were kids…"

So unusual for the Hokage's office, it was wrapped in complete silence. The entire building shared the noiseless peace with the rest of the village, as night completely took over the sky. Tsunade and her assistant avoided eye-contact for quite some time, before the Lady Hokage had reached a mental breakthrough. She stood from her chair, planted her hands to her hips, and smiled confidently out at the brightly lit moon.

"And he did, he made it work."

"But…the demon is-"

"I have no choice but to trust Kyuubi's word, unless he proves to me otherwise." Tsunade explained flatly. "The determining factor for if I can or not, lies within Yamato's wood clone now. That is why I'm not asleep yet."

Shizune nodded, swallowing the concerns she still harbored over the matter. Tsunade turned her back to her, and proceeded to stare out over her village, her kingdom with a look of uneasiness. No doubt, her hazel eyes were darting in the direction of Naruto's apartment. Naruto would be heading home for bed anytime now, most likely; he must have been training with Kyuubi all day, for Yamato to be this late. At least, that was her hope.

_"My lady…I just hope you and Master Jiraiya know what you're doing."_

"Hehehe…man that was great! I don't need that stupid fox to train, I feel stronger just by myself!" Naruto exclaimed, returning within the gates of the Hidden Leaf, and strolling down the darkened main road, using the street lamps' umbrellas of light to help guide him.

Stains of grass and dirt smudged his orange jumpsuit, cheeks, and even his bright blonde hair, as if he had tumbled down a large hill. A few small scrapes dotted here and there as well, from when his clones had nearly got him with a couple of thrown shuriken. But atop it all, the boy still grinned from ear to ear. With or without sensei or irritating fox demon's telling him what to work on, Naruto felt pumped as ever, and walked with a spring in his step.

In no time flat he covered a block and a half, and had found himself climbing the steps to his floored apartment building two steps at a time. At his door, he grabbed his keys from his pants pocket, threw them up in the air, and caught them in style before unlocking the handle and stepping inside.

"Hah, home sweet home." He said to himself, his grin turning into a content smile when he surveyed the familiar surroundings. Closing the door and locking it behind him, the genin's body went into auto-pilot: Off with his jumpsuit, off with his pants, off with his headband and sandals; Sandals by the door, and jumpsuit by the doorway. Now in nothing but his black t-shirt and boxers, he headed to his bedroom, headband in hand. This was nothing but mere muscle memory to him at this point, and he began to hum a tune as he made his way past the living room and through the door frame of his bedroom.

"Alright, after a long day of training, now it's time to catch a little-"

"I knew this place was an abyss, but I had no idea just to what extent."

Naruto froze mid-stride, and his 'end of the day' auto-pilot was replaced by two wide eyes, a slightly gaping mouth, and a rather unwelcome look about his expression. Laying there like a lounging cougar was Kyuubi, tails for once calm and unmoving in a pile of fuzz by his hands. But what baffled Naruto wasn't the simple fact that he was in his apartment…but exactly where he was in his apartment.

"W-What the…" Naruto stuttered, blinking in confusion and looking up at a part of his room he rarely ever took notice in; the ceiling. "Why the heck are you up there!?"

The demon fox's crimson eyes stuck out in the mostly-dark room like two flares. Perfectly situated upside-down on the ceiling, he looked down on the boy, and then glanced towards the floor.

"Because it's the only relatively clean place in this garbage dump you call an apartment." He said quietly. "And I'd knock it off with the yells if I were you, brat, unless you'd like to explain to the neighbors that you're arguing with the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Naruto gave a huff, muttered 'fine', and switched the light on. His room _was_ a bit…untidy. But that never bothered him before, because he never had any visitors! Why should he bother to keep the place clean if no one else is gonna see it? Ignoring the ceiling fox for the time being, the boy placed his headband neatly on his wooden dresser and sat down on his bed. With his bed beneath him, and those pillows and sheets practically calling his name, Naruto found that fatigue was starting to set in more and more. But first thing was first.

"So, why are you in here anyway, fox? You said you were gonna go sleep on my roof, so why are you on my ceiling criticizing my apartment?" The boy asked, giving off a purposeful look and tone of annoyance. Kyuubi crossed his hands, and his tails began to come to life again.

"Think about it, kid. What happens when I fall asleep?"

"…You stop getting on my nerves?"

"I lose the ability to maintain jutsu." Kyuubi retorted, ignoring the boy's snide reply, but smiling eerily anyway. "It's a jutsu that keeps me invisible to all but you, so what do you think you're perverted teacher and hokage would think, when they get reports of seeing the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit sleeping on your roof in the morning from all your ninja friends?"

Naruto blinked tiredly a few times; it took him a few seconds to make the connection. When he finally did, he rolled his eyes and angrily went about stripping off his t-shirt, to reveal his bare torso, and the seal. The shirt was then sent soaring through the air, only to fall and become just another casualty on Naruto's crowded floor. Ughh, the fox had to be kidding; now he had to deal with him at night _too_!? Baring his teeth, the blonde let his body fall with a rebounding thump onto the mattress below him. On instinct, he groped his sheets close to him.

"Why did you tell me you could sleep on my roof earlier at the training field, then!?" He asked demandingly.

In a split second, the fox made a silent and majestic leap from his spot on the ceiling to the doorway of the moderately sized room. Naruto wouldn't have even known he had moved, if he hadn't spoken again.

"Because I only figured it out after thinking aloud." The bijuu said. "And I didn't want to listen to you whine about it."

"Pfft, yeah? Well how's that workin' out for ya?" Naruto snipped sarcastically, mess of hair pushing up against his forehead from the pillow.

Kyuubi shot the boy a glare, but continued to move out of reach from the bedroom's light, and into the dimmer living room. Naruto's azure eyes tracked him all the way to the couch, where he stepped on it, and casually laid down. Body now cast in shadow, it was only by his bright crimson eyes that Naruto could tell the fox was staring right at him. His long-eared head was still upright.

"Keep up the smart-ass remarks, and I might be tempted to see just how well you can dodge my attacks while curled up in your bed. 'Oh I'm so sorry Lady Hokage, I didn't _mean_ for the brat to break anything, it was just some spontaneous training he was ill prepared for, that's all.'" The fox threatened, faking a hypothetical apology to the Hokage. Naruto simply gave him a sour look, and muffled a scoff through his pillow.

"Man, you're just as vicious as you act in your cage." He commented. "You'd think an ancient demon would be able to handle stuff without getting so worked up-"

"Shut _up _you little runt!"

Before Naruto was aware of what was happening, the entire world was turned on its head, as a thick bushy tail wrapped itself around his foot, and yanked him out from underneath the covers. Giving a yelp of pain upon banging his head against the wooden frame of his bed, the blonde genin was suspended there in the air, upside-down, in nothing but his boxers. A faint blush coming over him, he frantically struggled around.

"H-Hey! Put me down you stupid mangy-what do you think you're doing!?"

"You don't even _know_ the definition of a demon. You think I'm just some fox can talk, hmm?" Kyuubi interrupted, a menacing growl built into the back of his words. His tail, still dangling Naruto, began to retract. Naruto began to sweat, and a feeling of dread began to attack him; the darkness of the living room took him over, and those twin red eyes grew closer and closer, floating there above the couch while the tail continued to reel him in towards them.

Soon enough, Naruto's face was inches from Kyuubi's, and though it was too dark to make out more than an outline, the fox's stare was bearing right into him. The genin could feel his heartbeat beating against his chest.

"I am a concentrated, living manifestation of malevolence and hatred. An uneducated, helpless little kit like you cannot _hope_ to understand how my mind works." The fox whispered, using one claw to sharply prod the dangling pre-teen ninja in the belly, and make him sway back and forth. "So I highly recommend you bury your accusations, assumptions and expectations for what you believe I am. I am not your sensei. I am not your pet. I am not your friend. I am someone who would slay you, and anyone else in a heartbeat, if it meant I could be truly free of you."

Naruto remained silent. Even as he was made to comically sway back and forth in the air, he couldn't even blink. His face was hard as stone, and his brows furrowed as the demon spoke his last sentence.

"As it is, this is the only alternative, and thus, I will abide by your Hokage's rules to have this…relative freedom. But as of right now, I've had it with your commentary." Kyuubi finished, his tail suddenly loosening, and dropping the boy to the floor on his side. A shirt or two and some scrolls blanketed his landing, but Naruto didn't give even the slightest noise, not even an 'ouch'. He kicked a few of the bumpy scrolls out from underneath his legs, and sat there, suddenly as cool as cucumber.

"…Ya know, it feels like a long time ago now." Naruto began, rubbing his shoulder. "But back then, shortly after first meeting you, I fought against a genius. He had told me that no matter how hard you work, how hard you try, you can't change your fate. He said fate was pre-determined by 'destiny', and that it was 'my destiny' to lose to him. He said that you can't change who you are. You can't alter your destiny."

The Nine-Tails watched as Naruto slowly stood back up. He placed his palm against the seal encircled around his navel, and to the beast's surprise, gave him a look of utter seriousness.

"I proved him wrong. You can make yourself whatever you're willing to strive to be."

Total silence followed. Naruto walked straight back to his bedroom, flicked off the light on his way by, and returned to the cool comfort of his blankets, sheets and pillow. This time, he faced away from Kyuubi, and towards his bedroom window. The moon was high in the sky by now, casting an eerie glow over the bedroom, and leaving the living room to complete darkness.

_"The Hyuga Clan prodigy, huh?" _Kyuubi recalled._ "Another example of turning to me for help. Dependent child."_

He remembered that battle all too well. It was shortly after first meeting him, when the kid barked up to him through the bars of his prison and claimed that a nearly omnipotent creature like himself, owed a little child like him 'rent'. Up until the very end of the fight, the kid had been doing mediocre if nothing else, and then trudged up on the fox's own power to defeat him. All he scored from it was a single uppercut, too. Pfft.

The fox looked down at his claws, which flexed and reflected the scarce light from the moon.

_"Then, not hours later, the kid summoned upon that ridiculous toad, and transformed into me. And then when that didn't finish it, he yet again demanded I feed him even more chakra, just so he could land a head-butt on Shukaku's host. The son of the White Fang is right; he's a complete and utter knucklehead. The amount of chakra he wastes is sickening, and with me, it's a complete disgrace."_

The old rickety apartment building began to give off shallow tinking noises and other bumps and creaks, as the pipes inside the walls went to work. Kyuubi put aside his criticism, and lowered his hand again.

_"Still…the kid has backbone, I'll give him that. Daring to mock me repeatedly is alone a testament to that."_

Eyes closing half-way and reflecting over all the events of today, the fox too laid his head down, and tried to enjoy the limited comfort of the small couch.

_"If you're wrong about one thing child, it's that change cannot be done by anyone, about anything. Talking of working hard to become a powerful ninja from nothing is one thing. Foolish thoughts of a so-called demon becoming anything other than an otherworldly beast is pure nonsense."_

Amongst his thoughts bringing him closer and closer to falling into unconsciousness, the fox's divine ears twitched at the sound of the kid's voice. Eye opening, the outline of Naruto half-sitting up in his bed was blatant against the backdrop of his moonlit window.

"…Hey."

"…What do you want, now?" The demon asked coldly. He_ may_ acknowledge that the brat had a few positive points, but if the kid thought they were suddenly going to be buddies, or that he would tolerate pointless small talk, he had his head in one too many ramen bowls.

"…When you were talking earlier, you called me 'kit'." Naruto said.

"And? What of it?" Kyuubi ground his teeth together and narrowed his eyes at the boy's silhouette. He reproached himself for slipping with that word…

"Well, what's that mean?"

"It means young fox. 'Kid' is the name for young humans. 'Kit' is the same term for young foxes."

"Then you…what did you mean by it?-"

"Nothing." Kyuubi said sternly, sounding more agitated and eager for the conversation to end. "The two words are incredibly similar, and mean the same thing. I simply decided to use this variation this time, seeing as how my appearance is that of a fox. Now shut up and go to bed. Without energy you'll be nothing but a target to my jutsu tomorrow, which will land you a one-way ticket into the hospital, and you'll get no sympathy from me."

"Heh, whatever you say." Naruto replied flatly. For one more time that night, he grabbed his blanket and turned around, finding the will to finally return to sleep, now that both he and the fox had finished their bickering. What the demon didn't know was that Naruto had a wide grin on his face as he turned on his side and closed his eyes.

A young fox, huh? 'Meant the same thing', yeah right, fox, nice try.

Soft and melodious, and quiet as a whisper, a man in a mask chuckled to himself, though his voice could barely be extracted from the howling wind. Crouched on the slanted ledge just out of view from Naruto's window, the ANBU member shifted his leg, and sighed as he felt it twitch on pins and needles; he must have been sitting there longer than he thought. But that had little importance. At the moment, it appeared the demon was more docile than hostile, and that was reliving and encouraging news to not just Lady Hokage, but to Naruto as well.

"I hope she's still awake. She'll want to be aware of this." He explained to himself, before vanishing in a blurred black streak.


End file.
